Psychological treatment for panic disorder with agoraphobia: A randomized controlled trial to examine the role of therapist-guided exposure in situ in CBT.

Abstract

Therapist-guided exposure is more effective for agoraphobic avoidance, overall functioning, and panic attacks in the follow-up period than is CBT without therapist-guided exposure. Therapist-guided exposure promotes additional therapeutic improvement--possibly mediated by increased physical engagement in feared situations--beyond the effects of a CBT treatment in which exposure is simply instructed.