Pharmacological treatment of agoraphobia: imipramine versus imipramine with programmed practice.
Eighteen agoraphobic patients with randomly assigned to 12 week treatment with imipramine (I) or imipramine and programmed in-vivo exposure practice (I+BT) to investigate the contribution of behavioural instructions to the clinical effects of pharmacotherapy. Significantly greater improvement on phobic measures was found in the I+BT group compared to the I group. Differences were less marked on measures of panic and anxiety. The results suggest that imipramine possesses an antiphobic effect which can be substantially enhanced with programmed practice. Controlled large-scale investigations of the pharmacological and instructional effects of the phamacotherapy of agoraphobia are needed for a definitive evaluation of the specific antiphobic effect of antidepressant drugs.
D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001007:Anxiety; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007099:Imipramine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010200:Panic / Q000187:drug effects; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*
D007099:Imipramine