Psychotherapy for panic disorder.

Panic disorder is a common and debilitating illness in which unexpected panic episodes are the core feature. Medication treatment is of proven efficacy in this disorder. Cognitive behavioral treatment is also effective and can be administered without medication with good results. This paper reviews the techniques and strategies used in cognitive behavioral treatment and outcome results from studies utilizing this approach. The efficacy of other psychotherapeutic approaches is less well established. However, we recently conducted a study comparing cognitive behavioral treatment to an emotion focused brief psychotherapy and found them to be equivalent. We describe the theoretical background and the strategies and techniques for this treatment, and review the results of the prospective comparison.