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 .
Surreptitious drug use by patients in a panic disorder study.
In a double-blind , placebo-controlled trial comparing  alprazolam and imipramine for panic disorder  , serum analysis revealed that a substantial proportion of the patients took explicitly prohibited anxiolytic medication . Excluding these patients changed the results
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 .