[Ambulatory short-term therapy of anxiety patients with autogenic training and hypnosis. Results of treatment and 3 months follow-up].

The aim of the study was to examine the effects of a short-term outpatient treatment (6 sessions à 90 minutes) with autogenic training (Schultz 1932) or hypnosis (Erickson and Rossi 1979), concerning patients with anxiety- and panic disorders (according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10-criteria). 27 Outpatients were recruited by newspaper articles. Most of them had not been treated before. Both short-term treatments consisted of 6 weekly group sessions (4-6 patients). Psychological examinations were carried out before and after treatment and at a follow-up after 3 months. Trait anxiety (STAI-X2) and psychosomatic complaints (BfS/BL') decreased in both groups significantly after treatment. This therapeutic effect was stable during the following 3 months. The frequency of panic attacks decreased as well under treatment, and this effect was even more marked during the 3 month following treatment. The therapeutic success was influenced by the frequency of autosuggestive exercises carried out by the patients at home. This form of short-term treatment is not sufficient for all patients with anxiety disorders but the results of that study encourage to use short-term interventions with autogenic training and hypnosis as initial therapeutic approaches for such patients and to combine them with other therapeutic interventions.