Cognitive-behavioral therapy for management of anxiety and medication taper in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: The authors hypothesized that patients with late-life anxiety undergoing cognitive-behavioral therapy plus medical management for medication taper (CBT-MM) would realize greater reduction in medication use and greater improvement in psychological symptoms than a control group undergoing medical management alone (MM). METHODS: Forty-two patients (age >60) who wanted to reduce anxiolytic medication were allocated to the two groups (CBT-MM versus MM), using a randomization plus difference-minimization procedure (to equate for medication use). RESULTS: CBT-MM completers significantly reduced medication use, but not at a greater rate than MM completers. At the same time, CBT-MM completers experienced significantly greater alleviation of psychological symptoms than did MM completers. Some, but not all, treatment gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. Intention-to-treat analyses using the mixed-effects model showed similar, but weaker, treatment effects than completer analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive-behavioral therapy can alleviate psychological symptoms in elderly patients with anxiety even as patients reduce anxiolytic medication.

The effect of successful treatment on the emotional and physiological response to carbon dioxide inhalation in patients with panic disorder.

BACKGROUND: A number of studies have shown that patients with panic disorder are more likely to have panic attacks during carbon dioxide inhalation than are normal comparison subjects. Some studies have shown that antipanic medications can reduce the anxiogenic response to carbon dioxide, but none have shown if this is the case for cognitive behavioral therapy or if successful treatment reduces the respiratory physiologic response to carbon dioxide. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with panic disorder and 13 normal comparison subjects underwent baseline testing with 5% and 7% carbon dioxide inhalation. The patients were then retested after at least 12 weeks of treatment with either antipanic medication or cognitive behavioral therapy. Comparison subjects were retested after a similar interval. RESULTS: Successful treatment resulted in lower panic rates, and reduced anxiogenic response. Treatment had no effect, however, on the respiratory physiologic response. CONCLUSIONS: There is dissociation in treatment response between the subjective and objective responses to carbon dioxide inhalation in panic disorder patients, with the former but not the latter showing positive change. We hypothesize that the strengthening of higher cortical control over subcortical fear-related structures, whether via medication or cognitive behavioral therapy treatment, results in less anxiety and fear in response to provoked symptoms reminiscent of naturally occurring panic.

Distinguishing generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and mixed anxiety states in older treatment-seeking adults.

Eighty treatment-seeking adults age 60 or over with panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and mixed anxiety states (generalized anxiety with panic attacks, panic disorder with secondary generalized anxiety) completed a clinical assessment and battery of self report measures. Several hypotheses were tested from the domains of distinguishing symptoms, associated features, and rates of comorbidity with other disorders. Greater between- than within-group variance was found on a subset of measures suggesting that the distinction between GAD and PD is generally valid in the older adult population. Higher scores on measures of sympathetic arousal, agoraphobic avoidance, and rates of comorbid somatization disorder and alcohol dependence distinguished those with PD from those with GAD. Higher scores on measures of depression and hostility, but not trait anxiety or worry, distinguished the GAD group. Results indicate that distinguishing features of GAD and PD in older treatment-seeking adults may be fewer and slightly different from those of younger adults.

Effects of hyperventilation on heart rate and QT variability in panic disorder pre- and post-treatment.

Panic disorder is associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease and sudden death. Individuals with panic disorder have been shown to have reduced variability in heart rate and increased variability in the QT interval on electrocardiogram (ECG), patterns predictive of sudden cardiac death in certain forms of cardiomyopathy. Given that panic disorder patients often hyperventilate during a panic attack, we assessed the effects of voluntary hyperventilation on the ECG utilizing linear analyses of heart rate and QT interval variability. Sixteen symptomatic, medication-free patients underwent hyperventilation challenge. A small subgroup of eight subjects underwent re-challenge after treatment. Pre-treatment, hyperventilation resulted in a decrease in a measure of heart rate variability and an increase in the QT variability index (QTVI; QT variance normalized for mean QT, divided by heart rate variance normalized for mean heart rate). In a remitted state, the QTVI was reduced both during rest and during hyperventilation compared with the respective pre-treatment levels. These findings suggest a possible mechanism explaining increased rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in panic disorder. Moreover, the reduction in QTVI observed post-treatment raises the question of whether treatment might have cardioprotective effects, at least in panic disorder patients who have particular types of co-morbid cardiac disease. Yet these results must be interpreted cautiously; they are preliminary, exploratory and observed in a very small sample without a healthy comparison group.

Standard and enhanced cognitive-behavior therapy for late-life generalized anxiety disorder: two pilot investigations.

OBJECTIVE: Although cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in younger adults, little is known about its efficacy in older patients. Investigations to date have tested group-format or otherwise nonstandard versions of CBT. The studies described here are, to our knowledge, the first to test the efficacy of individual-format CBT administered in a mental health clinic for treatment of late-life GAD. METHODS: Study 1 tested a standard version, and Study 2 tested an enhanced version (ECBT) that included learning and memory aids designed to make the therapy more effective with elderly patients (e.g., homework reminder and troubleshooting calls, weekly review of all concepts and techniques). RESULTS: Study 1 CBT participants showed significant improvement on GAD severity ratings. Study 2 ECBT participants showed significant improvement on two self-report measures, rates of posttreatment GAD, and GAD severity ratings. ECBT resulted in improvement on more measures and yielded larger effect sizes than standard CBT, when each was compared against a wait-list control group. CONCLUSION: Results of these pilot studies suggest that standard individual-format CBT may not be optimally effective for treating late-life GAD; thus, ECBT should be tested further in randomized trials.