Support Person (Co-Therapist) in the Therapy of Panic Disorder

Vito Zepinic, Blagoj Kuzmanovski

Abstract


Objective: This study evaluates: a) the natural course and severity of panic disorder using psychometric testing, and b) the efficacy of using support person (co-therapist) in the treatment of panic disorder.
Method: Twenty-six outpatients were assessed with the Burns Anxiety Inventory, Diagnostic Anxiety Questionnaire, Hillview Panic Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory. The patients were divided into two groups: 13 patients have been treated without involvement of the support person (control group), and 17 patients have been treated with help from the support person. The patients were also taught to write the Daily Panic Record form and the support persons (co-therapists) were instructed about therapy procedures provided by the therapist. All involved patients were re-assessed with the same psychometric instruments after three and six months of the treatment.
Results: The results on initial assessment were similar in both groups. As therapy progressed, both groups show a reduction in anxiety and depression after 3 months of treatment. However, it was evident that patients in the experimental group (with support person) had much better progress in last 3 months of the treatment than those in the control group.
Conclusion: Accepting that the exposure is the most effective treatment of panic disorder, we hypothesised that the therapy with a help from the support therapy should be more effective. We found that 54% of the patients in experimental group were panic-free after 3-months, and 86% after 6-months treatment. However, those who did not have help from support person, only 21% were panic-free after 3-months treatment and 33% after 6-months treatment.


Keywords


Panic disorder; Co-therapist; Exposure therapy; Therapeutic alliance

Full Text:

PDF

References


American Psychiatric Publishing. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington DC.

American Psychiatric Publishing. (2002). Textbook of anxiety disorder. Washington DC.

Arntz, A., & van den Hout, M. (1996). Psychological treatments of panic disorder without agoraphobia: Cognitive therapy versus applied relaxation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 113-121.

Barlow, D. H. (Ed.). (1993). Clinical handbook of psychological disorders. New York, Guilford.

Barlow, D. H. (2002). Anxiety and its disorder. New York, Guilford Press.

Clum, G. A. (1989). Psychological interventions vs. drugs in the treatment of panic disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 20, 429-457.

Emmelkamp, P. M. G., Brilman, E., & Kuiper, H., et al. (1986). The treatment of agoraphobia: A comparation of self-instructional training, rational emotive therapy, and exposure in vivo. Behaviour Modification, 10, 37-53.

Gelso, C. J., & Carter, J. A. (1994). Components of the psychotherapy relationship: Their interaction and unfolding during treatment. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 41(3), 296-306

Horvath, A. O., & Luborsky, L. (1993). The role of alliance in psychotherapy. Journal of Counselling and Clinical Psychology, 4(61), 561-573.

McLaughlin, A. M. A., Keller, S. M., & Feeny, N. C., et al. (2014). Patterns of therapeutic alliance: Rupture-repair episodes in prolonged exposure of PTSD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(1), 112-121.

Mersch, P. P. (1995). The treatment of social phobia: the differential effectiveness of exposure in vivo and an integration of exposure in vivo, rational emotive therapy and social skills training. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 259-269.

Norcross, J. C. (Ed.). (2011). Psychotherapy relationships that works: Evidence-based responsiveness (2nd ed.). New York, Oxford University Press.

Rapee, R. M. (Ed.). (1996). Current controversies in the anxiety disorders. New York, Guilford Press.

Resick, P. A., Nishith, P., Weawer, T. L., Astin, M. C., & Feuer, C. A. (2002). A comparasion of Cognitive-Processing therapy with prolonged exposure and a waiting condition for the treatment of chronic posttraumatci stress disorder in female rape victims. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(4), 867-879.

Salkovskis, P., Clark, D., & Gelder, M. (1996). Cognition-behaviour links in the persistence of panic. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 453-458.

Shear, M. K., & Weiner, K. (1997). Psychotherapy for panic disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 58, 38-45.

Zepinic, V. (1997a). Treatment of panic disorder using in vivo exposure. AACBT, paper No 21.

Zepinic, V, (1991b). Hillview inventory for panic: An example of examination. AACBT, paper No 34.

Zepinic, V. (2012). The self and complex Trauma. Xlibris, London.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/%25x

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2015 Canadian Social Science



Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

Submission Guidelines for Canadian Social Science

We are currently accepting submissions via email only. The registration and online submission functions have been disabled.

Please send your manuscripts to css@cscanada.net，or css@cscanada.org for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture