• Marie-Josée Lessard, André Marchand, Marie-Ève Pelland, Geneviève Belleville, Alain Vadeboncoeur, Jean-Marc Chauny, Julien Poitras, Gilles Dupuis, Richard Fleet, Guillaume Foldes-Busque, and Kim L Lavoie.
• University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada.
• Behav Cogn Psychother. 2012 Mar 1; 40 (2): 129-47.

BackgroundPanic disorder (PD) is a common, often unrecognized condition among patients presenting with chest pain to the emergency departments (ED). Nevertheless, psychological treatment is rarely initiated. We are unaware of studies that evaluated the efficacy of brief cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for this population.AimEvaluate the efficacy of two brief CBT interventions in PD patients presenting to the ED with chest pain.MethodFifty-eight PD patients were assigned to either a 1-session CBT-based panic management intervention (PMI) (n = 24), a 7-session CBT intervention (n = 19), or a usual-care control condition (n = 15). A structured diagnostic interview and self-reported questionnaires were administered at pre-test, post-test, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.ResultsStatistical analysis showed significant reduction in PD severity following both interventions compared to usual care control condition, but with neither showing superiority compared to the other.ConclusionsCBT-based interventions as brief as a single session initiated within 2 weeks after an ED visit for chest pain appear to be effective for PD. Given the high prevalence of PD in emergency care settings, greater efforts should be made to implement these interventions in the ED and/or primary care setting.

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