Cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder: long-term follow-up

This paper describes a long-term follow-up of patients with panic disorder who received cognitive behaviour therapy within a randomized controlled trial. Of 89 patients eligible for follow-up, 28 (31.5%) were reassessed 6-8 years after commencement of treatment in the trial. No differences were found between those who were followed up and those lost to follow-up on most baseline measures including measures of panic-related psychopathology, or depression. Outcomes at long-term follow-up were significantly better than baseline measures of panic, avoidance and depression. In this sub-sample the effect of cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder appears to maintain over the long-term.