Med. praxi. 2012;9(3):113-118

Agoraphobia and its treatment

prof.MUDr.Ján Praško, CSc.¹, PhDr.Tomáš Diveky¹, MUDr.Aleš Grambal¹, MUDr.Dana Kamarádová¹, MUDr.Zuzana Sigmundová¹, MUDr.Petr Šilhán²

¹ Klinika psychiatrie, FN LF a UP Olomouc

² Psychiatrické oddělení, Fakultní nemocnice Ostrava

Agoraphobia is a phobic-anxious syndrome where patients avoid situations or places in which they fear being embarrassed, or being

unable to escape or get help if a panic attack occurs. Effective treatments for agoraphobia are available. The treatment of choice is cognitive

behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is the best studied non-pharmacological approach and can be applied to many patients, depending

on its availability. Pharmacological interventions include the possible use of a variety of agents. Among antidepressant agents, SSRIs

are generally well tolerated and effective for both anxious and depressive symptomatology, and these compounds should be considered

the first choice for short-, medium- and long-term pharmacological treatment of agoraphobia. These drugs are also effective in the

treatment of the frequently coexisting depressive symptomatology. High-potency benzodiazepines have been shown to have a rapid

onset of anti-anxiety effect, having beneficial effects during the first few days of treatment, and are therefore useful for short-term

treatment; however, these drugs are not first-choice medications in the medium and long term because of the frequent development

of tolerance and dependence phenomena.

Keywords: agoraphobia; cognitive behavioral therapy, benzodiazepines, antidepressants

Published: March 26, 2012  Show citation