Lessons to be learned from long-term treatment of affective disorders: potential utility in panic disorder.

Although the research on long-term treatment for panic disorder is in an early stage, there is a considerable body of data on affective disorders. The author discusses three long-term projects pertinent to affective disorders, with the idea that they may suggest possible avenues of research in the field of panic disorder: (1) the MacArthur Foundation task force arrives at consensus definitions and proposes tentative operational criteria; (2) the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study compares the effects of lithium carbonate, imipramine, the lithium/imipramine combination, and placebo in preventing the recurrence of affective disorders; and (3) the Pittsburgh Study explores the efficacy of the combination of imipramine and interpersonal psychotherapy as a preventive strategy against recurrence of depression.