After the acute phase treatment , as long as the drug was continued , the superiority of the combination over either monotherapy appeared to persist .
BACKGROUND Panic disorder can be treated with pharmacotherapy , psychotherapy or in combination , but the relative merits of combined therapy have not been well established .
OBJECTIVES To review evidence concerning short- and long-term advantages and disadvantages of combined psychotherapy plus antidepressant treatment for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia , in comparison with either therapy alone .
Agoraphobia: relative and combined effectiveness of therapist-assisted in vivo exposure and imipramine.
Sixty-two chronically agoraphobic patients completed a controlled study to assess the effects of 1 ) imipramine up to 200 mg/day ( mean = 130 mg/day ) , 2 ) 12 weekly therapist-assisted in vivo exposure sessions ( flooding ) , and 3 ) imipramine plus flooding . The control group received systematic therapeutic instructions for self-directed in vivo exposure ( programmed practice ) .  Clinical measures of global severity , phobia , panic , anxiety , depression , and behavioral performance tests were administered before treatment and at Weeks 4 , 8 , and 12 of treatment . Results revealed significant improvement in all groups on all measures over the course of treatment ; almost a third of the control patients showed marked improvement . Imipramine had significant effects on improvement of phobias and markedly increased clinical response rates in patients receiving 150 - 200 mg/day . Less chronicity and severity of condition also predicted better clinical outcome . Flooding had limited effects above and beyond programmed practice , and no imipramine-flooding interactions effects were found
After the acute phase treatment , as long as the drug was continued , the superiority of the combination over either monotherapy appeared to persist .
BACKGROUND Panic disorder can be treated with pharmacotherapy , psychotherapy or in combination , but the relative merits of combined therapy have not been well established .
OBJECTIVES To review evidence concerning short- and long-term advantages and disadvantages of combined psychotherapy plus antidepressant treatment for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia , in comparison with either therapy alone .