Factors Interfering with the Course of Treatment for Anxiety Disorders: Prolongation and Premature Termination of Treatment

Abstract

The efficacy and the effectiveness of anxiety disorder treatments have been proven. However, the desired results are not always achieved. Studying the factors that interfere with the natural course of the treatments could help to correct and to adapt them. Two of these factors are the unnecessary prolongation of treatments and their premature termination. As expected, the duration of the treatment depends on the nature of the problem and the existence of comorbid problems, however treatments that are too ambitious (an excess of techniques) or combined with pharmacological treatments (increasing sessions by up to 21%) also have a longer duration. Premature termination is around 30-35% and patients “announce” the dropout by displaying poorer task performance and more irregular attendance from the beginning. More than 50% of the therapeutic dropout occurs before the eighth session and 80% of successful treatments are completed before the 20th session.