Behaviour therapy for agoraphobic men

Eighteen men and 49 women with agoraphobia were offered behaviour therapy based on graded exposure in vivo to feared situations. Eight of the men and 6 of the women refused or terminated treatment prematurely, the men because of unmanageable anxiety, and the women for reasons unrelated to anxiety levels. The 10 men who completed the programme were compared with 10 women matched for age. Women experienced significantly more panic attacks during exposure than men, who instead were concerned mainly with fears of losing control of aggressive impulses. The effects of exposure were broadly comparable: both men and women reported over 65% improvement in their main phobias, and between 30 and 50% improvement in other symptoms, 12 months after treatment.