[Cognitive behavior therapy of agoraphobia, retrospective study of 345 cases]

Epidemiological data of 533 (42% male) agoraphobic patients referred to an anxiety disorder unit are reported. Comorbidity with mood disorders was high (48%). Therapeutic response was studied in 345 patients who received cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT): 131 patients dropped out and 214 completed treatment. At post-test 71% of the completers were improved with maintenance of the gains in patients reevaluated at follow-up points ranging from 6 months to 18 years. Medication intake was significantly decreased. Intent to treat analysis of the whole CBT sample showed that 57% of the 345 patients were improved. Drop-outs were predicted by female sex and psychotic personality traits. This suggests that personality assessment should be carried out in agoraphobia and therapeutic interventions on personality considered in patients with disordered personality. The relatively low prevalence of women in the whole sample and their higher prevalence in drop-outs are discussed.