A pilot study augmenting cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder with attention bias modification: Clinical and psychophysiological outcomes
Section snippets
Participants
Randomized participants were 23 adults (M age = 32.40 years, SD = 10.32) with a primary diagnosis of PD with or without agoraphobia, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Sample demographic and clinical characteristics are detailed in Table 1, with study flow in Fig. 1. Inclusion criteria included moderate to severe PD symptom severity as measured by the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale (≥4; Guy, 1976). Participants were willing and able to
Sample demographics and baseline characteristics
The sample (N = 23) was 52.6% female with an average age of 32.4 years, and primarily Caucasian (95%) (see Table 1 demographic and clinical characteristics). There were no significant differences in baseline panic severity (PDSS, t(20) = 0.54, p = .59, CGI- S, t(20)<0.0001, p = .5), or attention bias scores (t(19) = 1.00, p = .33) between the ABM and PBO groups.
Pre-treatment
During the loud-tone paradigm, higher pre-tone HR levels (r = 0.75, p < 0.001) and, as anticipated, larger HR responses to the loud
Discussion
The present pilot study aimed to address gaps in the literature regarding the efficacy of combining ABM with CBT to enhance treatment outcomes for individuals with PD, with initial promising clinical results. It is also a first step towards informing avenues for future research that can advance our understanding of how ABM enhances symptom gains (mediators) and for whom ABM is optimally indicated (moderators). Specifically, our study design was optimized with multi-modal measures of symptom
CRediT authorship contribution statement
A.W. Baker: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. S.N. Hellberg: Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. R.J. Jacoby: Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. O.M. Losiewicz: Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing - review & editing, Visualization. S. Orr: Methodology,
Declaration of competing interest
No disclosures to declare.
Acknowledgments
The Highland Street Foundation, Newton, MA.
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