Attention fixation training: training people to form cognitive maps help to control symptoms of panic disorder with agoraphobia.
Nine individuals diagnosed with panic with agoraphobia received three elements of Attentional Fixation Training (AFT): Directed attention to the external environment, directed topographical synthesis, and directed orientation in space-time to control characteristics of panic. They then walked a standard 2.5 km route and practiced these elements upon entering one of the five panic-inducing situations: (a) walking alone near a busy street with the examiner following at 20 m, (b) walking alone near a busy street with the examiner out of client's visual field, (c) shopping with the examiner present, (d) traveling on a bus alone, and (e) shopping alone. Heart rate was monitored in each of these five situations. Except for the case of using public transport, heart rate activity decreased to a considerable extent during AFT practice suggesting AFT elements provided a good way to control symptoms of panic in vivo. Results were discussed within the confines of a model suggesting that an attentional deficit, which produces a spatial disorientation disorder that maintains both panic and agoraphobia, can efficiently be overcome by means of all three AFT tools.
Kállai
J
J
Department of Personality, Development, and Clinical Psychology, Janus Pannonius University, Pécs, Hungary. jkallai@btk.jpte.hu
Kosztolányi
P
P
Osváth
A
A
Jacobs
W J
WJ
D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009949:Orientation; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome