Cardio-respiratory symptoms in panic disorder: a contribution from cognitive-behaviour therapy

• Autor(a) principal: King,Anna Lucia Spear
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Silva,Adriana Cardoso de Oliveira e, Valencça,Alexandre Martins, Nardi,Antonio Egidio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0047-20852011000400011
• topic: Panic; anxiety; phobia; exposures

Objective: To compare patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia treated with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) associated with the medication with patients treated only with medication and verify the behaviour of the cardio-respiratory symptoms of both groups. Methods: Randomized sample in the Psychiatry Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, divided in two groups of 25 participants each. Group 1 undertook 10 weekly sessions of CBT with one hour of duration each together with medication. Group 2, Control, were administered medication that only consisted of tricyclic anti-depressants and selective inhibitors of the re-uptake of serotonin. Evaluation instruments were applied at the beginning and to the end of the interventions. Results: According to the applied scales, group 1 showed statistically more significant results than group 2, with: reduction of panic attacks, cardio-respiratory symptoms, anticipatory anxiety, agoraphobia avoidance and fear of bodily sensations. Conclusion: Exposures (in vivo and interoceptive), especially for induction symptom exercises and relaxation, were considered essential to prepare patients with panic disorder to handle future cardio-respiratory symptoms and panic attacks with agoraphobia.