Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders.

A review of studies of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, and social phobia indicates that CBT is consistently more effective than waiting-list and placebo control groups. In general, CBT has proved more beneficial than supportive therapy as well. Comparisons with active behavioral treatments provide more variable results. Converging evidence suggests that cognitive change may be a strong predictor of treatment outcome, but that such change may be produced by a number of therapeutic approaches. Pretest-posttest change with CBT is depicted in meta-analytic summary form for each disorder.