Nakano Yumi, Lee Kiyoe, Noda Yumiko, Ogawa Sei, Kinoshita Yoshihiro, Funayama Tadashi, Watanabe Norio, Chen Junwen, Noguchi Yuka, Furukawa Toshiaki A
Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan.
Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2008 Jun;62(3):313-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2008.01799.x.
The aim of this paper is to report the outcomes and follow-up data of our cognitive behavioral therapy program for Japanese patients with panic disorder and to examine the baseline predictors of their outcomes.
Seventy outpatients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia were treated with manualized group cognitive behavioral therapy.
Fourteen patients (20%) did not complete the program. Among the completers, the average Panic Disorder Severity Scale score fell from 12.8 at baseline to 7.1 post-therapy (44.7% reduction). This effectiveness was sustained for 1 year. While controlling for the baseline severity, the duration of illness and the baseline social dysfunction emerged as significant predictors of the outcome.
Our data suggest that group cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder can bring about as much symptom reduction among Japanese patients with panic disorder as among Western patients.
