In the proposed research, the effects of a new very brief treatment for panic disorder, EMDR, will be examined. This procedure has shown some promise in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in pilot work with panic disorder. Although EMDR is being rapidly adopted by clinicians across the country, adequate control data on its efficacy are lacking. Proposed here is a pilot study in which EMDR's effects are contrasted with those of a control procedure which is identical except for the measurement of eye movement (eye fixation exposure and reprocessing - EFER) and with a no treatment, assessment only condition, waiting list.Results of three groups will be contrasted at post-treatment and 3- month follow-up in a three treatment group times three occasions design. The experimental hypothesis is that the EMDR will yield results superior to waiting list. No hypothesis is suggested for EMDR versus EFER. Major dependent measures based on pilot data include frequency of and fear of panic attacks and generalized anxiety. The results of this investigation, if promising, will provide the pilot work for a larger trial contrasting EMDR's effect in combination with exposure treatment for agoraphobic avoidance behavior to those of other treatments of already-proven efficacy. If EMDR lives up to its promise, it should enable the investigator to decrease overall treatment time and to develop a treatment program that requires less expense for training therapists, thus making effective psychosocial treatment for panic disorder and agoraphobia more readily available than is now the case.
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| Goldstein, A J; de Beurs, E; Chambless, D L et al. (2000) EMDR for panic disorder with agoraphobia: comparison with waiting list and credible attention-placebo control conditions. J Consult Clin Psychol 68:947-56 |
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| de Beurs, E; Wilson, K A; Chambless, D L et al. (1997) Convergent and divergent validity of the Beck Anxiety Inventory for patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia. Depress Anxiety 6:140-6 |
| Feske, U; Goldstein, A J (1997) Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing treatment for panic disorder: a controlled outcome and partial dismantling study. J Consult Clin Psychol 65:1026-35 |
