The review established the paucity of high quality evidence investigating the efficacy of psychotherapy combined with benzodiazepines for panic disorder .
Currently , there is inadequate evidence to assess the clinical effects of psychotherapy combined with benzodiazepines for patients who are diagnosed with panic disorder
BACKGROUND The efficacy of combining psychotherapy and benzodiazepines for panic disorder is unclear , despite widespread use .
OBJECTIVES To examine the efficacy of the combination compared with either treatment alone .
Effects of concurrent diazepam treatment on the outcome of exposure therapy in agoraphobia.
In a study design ed to evaluate the impact of benzodiazepine use on the outcome of behaviour  therapy , 91 , severe , chronic agoraphobics ( 46 BDZ users and 45 non-users ) were r and omly allocated on a double-blind basis to in vivo exposure with low-dose diazepam ( ED ) or placebo ( EP ) . Drug doses were adjusted on the basis of weekly psychiatric assessment s over weeks 1 - 4 . Patients had 8 x 2 hr exposure sessions ( weeks 5 - 12 ) and were then withdrawn from medication ( weeks 13 - 16 ) . Re- assessment s were completed at weeks 4 , 12 and 16 , and follow-up assessment s at approx 20 , 46 and 72 weeks . In the analysis of the results , the clinical outcome was evaluated in relation to the therapeutic regime ( ED vs EP ) and prior BDZ use ( users vs non-users ) . The results showed that the ED group had greater changes in anxiety than the EP group during the drug manipulation phases ( anxiety increasing during BDZ withdrawal ) . There were no group differences in agoraphobic symptoms and no evidence that the outcome of the behavior therapy was significantly affected by concurrent BDZ treatment . There were significant improvements in agoraphobic symptoms over the treatment period , with no evidence for relapse of treatment gains on withdrawal from BDZ , nor for differential responses over the one year follow-up . Initial differences between users and non-users were less marked than expected , although there was a trend for more drop-outs among users across both ED and EP groups
The review established the paucity of high quality evidence investigating the efficacy of psychotherapy combined with benzodiazepines for panic disorder .
Currently , there is inadequate evidence to assess the clinical effects of psychotherapy combined with benzodiazepines for patients who are diagnosed with panic disorder
BACKGROUND The efficacy of combining psychotherapy and benzodiazepines for panic disorder is unclear , despite widespread use .
OBJECTIVES To examine the efficacy of the combination compared with either treatment alone .