Clomipramine treatment of agoraphobic women. An eight-week controlled trial.

The efficacy of clomipramine hydrochloride in the treatment of agoraphobia was investigated in an eight-week placebo-controlled double-blind study. One hundred eight women diagnosed as agoraphobic by DSM-III guidelines were randomly assigned to the clomipramine or placebo group; 70 women (mean age, 36.6 years) completed the eight-week trial. The study medication was prescribed on the basis of weekly increments to a maximum of 300 mg/d, with a mean dosage at week 8 in the clomipramine hydrochloride group of 82.8 mg/d. Assessments performed prior to the trial and at the four- and eight-week points included the completion of standardized questionnaires and daily diaries, as well as the administration of a Behavioral Approach Test. Clomipramine was significantly superior to the placebo on several indexes of phobic symptoms and on measures of depression and dysphoria. Results are discussed in terms of the hypothesized action of clomipramine and the pattern of significant findings.