Does cognitive behavior therapy assist slow-taper alprazolam discontinuation in panic disorder?
Author(s): Spiegel DA, Bruce TJ, Gregg SF, Nuzzarello A Affiliation(s): Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria 61656. Publication date & source: 1994-06, Am J Psychiatry., 151(6):876-81. Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated whether cognitive behavioral treatment could facilitate discontinuation of alprazolam therapy and maintenance of drug abstinence among panic disorder patients treated with alprazolam doses sufficient to suppress spontaneous panic attacks. METHOD: Twenty-one outpatients who met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder with mild to severe agoraphobia were made panic-free with alprazolam (mean dose = 2.2 mg/day) and were then randomly assigned to receive either supportive drug maintenance and slow, flexible drug taper or an identical medication treatment plus 12 weeks of concurrent, individual cognitive behavioral treatment. Taper in the combined tr
