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 .
The effect of pharmacotherapist characteristics on treatment outcome in panic disorder.
A large number of studies suggest that individual characteristics of psychotherapists affect the outcome of  psychosocial treatments  for psychiatric illness , but little work has been done to see if this is also the case for pharmacotherapy . In the context of a multicenter study that compared psychosocial and medication treatments for panic disorder , we assessed whether such characteristics as age of the psychiatrist , number of years of experience , and gender influence the outcome of treatment with the antipanic drug imipramine . Data were examined by multiple and logistic regression analyses for eight psychiatrists who treated a total of 57 patients with panic disorder . More physician experience , measured as years since completing residency , was associated with better response to imipramine on one of two main dichotomous measures ( the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale ) and on six of nine continuous measure rating scales . Associations between psychiatrist age and outcome and between psychiatrist gender and outcome were also present but on fewer measures . Although these are post-hoc analyses that were not planned when the multicenter study was originally design ed and therefore there are limitations in the information available about the psychiatrists ' characteristics , the findings suggest that even in the context of a clinical trial that employs a specific protocol and single medication , physician experience may influence patient outcome . Depression and Anxiety 17:88 - 93 , 2003
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 .