Avoiding Treatment Failures in the Anxiety Disorders

Abstract

(from the preface) Over the last two decades, the field has witnessed dramatic advances in the conceptualization and treatment of anxiety disorders. Conditions, such as panic disorder, that were once considered the domain of pharmacotherapy have now been shown to be responsive to even ultra brief treatment protocols of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Indeed, the success of CBT across the anxiety disorders, and across the diverse patients afflicted by these conditions, inspires confidence in both the principles of CBT and the models of the disorders on which they are based. Yet, in the face of these clear advances, and the status of CBT as a first-line intervention for all of the anxiety disorders, clinicians continue to be challenged by the persistence of limited or poor treatment response among some patients. This volume is devoted to addressing these challenges. Authors of the chapters herein were responsible for integrating the latest in empirical research on the nature and treatment of anxiety disorders with lessons learned from actively working with patients in specialty clinic settings. The result is a scholarly based, yet clinically applicable, discussion of issues of treatment nonresponse and the strategies used to address these clinical challenges. Interventions that define empirically supported CBT for anxiety disorders are described in detail and are complemented by novel clinical strategies and the variations in treatment delivery that expert clinicians have applied with success. Accordingly, this volume is designed to be of use to clinicians seeking to understand more about how CBT is applied in the clinic as well as experienced clinicians seeking to find new strategies to apply when standard interventions fail. This volume is also designed to provide a state-of-the-art account of what is known and is not known about psychosocial treatment outcome for the anxiety disorders, thereby providing clinical researchers with the latest evidence on principles of treatment, core intervention strategies, predictors of nonresponse, and compensatory or novel interventions. By identifying treatment complications and discussing strategies for resolving them, it is our hope that this text will contribute to the further advancement of CBT for anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)