Long-term efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy of patients with anxiety disorders in a hospital setting – influence of continuing psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy

The efficacy of a cognitive behavioral treatment of patients with anxiety disorders in hospital and non-hospital settings is well established. We also were able to show, that an inpatient treatment program for patients with panic disorders and social phobia was effective also in patients with complex psychiatric comorbidity. We herein present first data from a follow-up study which we performed in a population of patients with social phobia or panic disorder. We received data from about 80% of the patients who participated in the initial studies on the efficacy of the treatment programme. In the initial studies, the treatment was successful for social anxiety and both for patients with pure severe panic disorders and in such with comorbid depression and/or substance abuse or dependency. In the follow-up measurements, the behavioral improvements as well as the changes in cognitions were also apparent. Interestingly, an additional psychopharmacotherapy (usually with SSRI) further increased the long-term effect of treatment. On the other hand, severely ill patients who showed even small improvements during the inpatient treatment also mostly had no relevant benefit from continuing outpatient psychotherapy or psychopharmacological treatments.