The impact of comorbid mood and personality disorders in the cognitive-behavioral treatment of panic disorder.

The present review examined the effect of comorbid major depressive disorder and personality disorder on the outcome of cognitive-behavioral interventions for panic disorder. Panic disorder patients often present with these comorbid conditions, but for the most part, treatment studies have paid little attention to them. Most studies on the effects of comorbidity on treatment outcome address pharmacological treatment. However, there is a growing literature on the effect of additional disorders on the outcome of cognitive-behavioral interventions for panic disorder. Findings from the studies of comorbidity with depression are equivocal, possibly reflecting inconsistencies in measurement methodology across studies. However, personality psychopathology was found to exert a detrimental effect on the outcome of cognitive-behavioral treatment for panic disorder. Further research is necessary to elucidate the impact of these concurrent conditions on cognitive-behavioral treatment for panic disorder. It is suggested that studies utilizing cognitive-behavioral treatment routinely examine the influence of comorbid conditions on treatment outcome.