Follow-up of Agoraphobic Patients Treated with Exposure in Vivo or Applied Relaxation

Abstract

The present study describes the results of a 7-month and a 15-month follow-up of 32 agoraphobic patients treated with exposure in vivo or applied relaxation. During the followup period, all patients were given self-exposure instructions. Assessments were made in three response systems-subjective-cognitive, behavioural, and physiological-at the follow-up points. The study showed overall maintenance of treatment results in all three response systems for exposure-treated patients. For applied relaxation/self-exposure, there was a relapse on Δ heart-rate at 7 months for physiologically reactive patients, but the improvement was regained at the 15 month follow-up. Furthermore, a large proportion of the total improvement occurred during the follow-up period: 36% and 22% for exposure and applied relaxation/self-exposure respectively. The proportion of patients reaching a clinically significant improvement was 50% at the end of treatment and 66% at the 15 month follow-up.