Cognitive-behavioral approaches to panic disorder and social phobia

In the past several years, substantial progress has been made in developing relatively efficient and seemingly effective brief psychosocial treatments for anxiety disorders. Knowledge has advanced along both biological and psychological fronts, although the greater effort has been put into understanding the neurobiological basis of anxiety disorders and developing appropriate, effective pharmacological treatment. Nevertheless, psychological knowledge has also advanced, and a more recent trend is to integrate psychological and biological advances at the level of psychopathology and treatment. The author highlights recent developments in understanding the psychological basis of two anxiety disorders: panic disorder and social phobia. He then describes psychosocial treatment protocols for these disorders that have been developed at the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders at the State University of New York at Albany, and reviews data on their effectiveness.