Dismantling cognitive-behavioral treatment for panic disorder: questioning the utility of breathing retraining.
Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) protocols for panic disorder (PD) consist of a set of interventions that often includes some form of breathing retraining (BR). A controlled outcome study was designed to assess the necessity of BR in the context of a multicomponent CBT protocol. To accomplish this, patients with PD (N = 77) were randomly assigned to receive CBT with or without BR or to a delayed-treatment control. The main study hypothesis was that patients receiving BR would display a less complete recovery relative to the other active-treatment condition given that BR appears to be a more attractive (but less adaptive) option for some patients. Some data suggested that the addition of BR yielded a poorer outcome. However, findings were generally more consistent with treatment equivalence, questioning whether BR produces any incremental benefits in the context of other CBT interventions for PD.
Schmidt
N B
NB
Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222, USA. schmidt.283@osu.edu
Woolaway-Bickel
K
K
Trakowski
J
J
Santiago
H
H
Storey
J
J
Koselka
M
M
Cook
J
J
D000328:Adult; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D012119:Respiration; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome