Panic Attacks: Study Reveals The

Best Type of Treatment

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Large study compares the effectiveness of

different types of therapies for panic
disorders.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best treatment
for panic disorders, a new study finds.
In addition, most people prefer therapy over taking
anti-anxiety medication.

Dr. Barbara Milrod, a professor of psychiatry at

Weill Cornell Medical College, said:
Panic disorder is really debilitating it causes
terrible healthcare costs and interference with
functioning.
We conducted this first ever large panic disorder
study to compare therapy types and see if one type
of therapy is preferable over another.
Panic disorders involve suffering from an extreme
feeling of anxiety and fear, sometimes for no
apparent reason.
Panic attacks can also be triggered by many
things, including irrational fears such as phobias.
During panic attacks people can tremble, become
sweaty, feel sick and may experience heart
palpitations.
The study randomised around 200 people with
panic disorders to various different commonly-used
therapies.
Therapy lasted for around three months and
involved one 45-minute session each week.
Across the two different sites where the therapies
were tested, cognitive behavioural therapy was the

most effective, and only one-quarter of people

dropped out.
Professor Milrod said:
If patients stick it out and continue with therapy
rather than drop out, they have a far greater
chance of seeing positive results or getting better.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry (Mildrod et al., 2015).
Panic image from Shutterstock