Treatment of Anxiety Disorders in a Psychology Clinic

Span J Psychol. 2015 Oct 30:18:E83. doi: 10.1017/sjp.2015.82.

Abstract

People with anxiety disorders demand psychological attention most often. Therefore, it seems important to identify both the characteristics of the patients who demand help and the clinical variables related to that demand and its treatment. A cohort of 292 patients who requested help at a university clinical facility was studied. The typical profile of the patient was: being female, young, unmarried, with some college education, and having previously received treatment, especially pharmacological one. The three most frequent diagnoses of anxiety, which include 50% of the cases, were: Anxiety Disorder not otherwise specified, Social Phobia, and Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. Regarding the characteristics of the intervention, the average duration of the assessment was 3.5 sessions (SD = 1.2), and the duration of the treatment was 14 sessions (SD = 11.2). The percentage of discharges was 70.2%. The average cost of treatment was around €840. The results are discussed, underlining the value of empirically supported treatments for anxiety disorders.

Keywords: anxiety disorders; clinical context; therapeutic results; treatments.

MeSH terms

  • Academic Medical Centers
  • Adult
  • Agoraphobia / epidemiology
  • Agoraphobia / therapy
  • Anxiety Disorders / epidemiology
  • Anxiety Disorders / therapy*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Panic Disorder / epidemiology
  • Panic Disorder / therapy
  • Phobic Disorders / epidemiology
  • Phobic Disorders / therapy
  • Psychotherapy / methods*
  • Psychotherapy / statistics & numerical data
  • Young Adult