Abstract
This paper examines how evidence-based practice closes the ever increasing gap between research and clinical practice and in particular, examines how, through a literature review, the best treatment for panic disorder without agoraphobia can be found.

Outline
What is Evidence Based Practice?
My Client
The Questions
The Resources
The Evaluation
The Client
Self-Evaluation
Strengths and Weaknesses

From the Paper
"First introduced to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edition (DSM-III) in 1980 Panic disorder (PD) is characterized by cognitive fears such anticipation of death, unexpected panic attacks and somatic symptomology such as dizziness, trembling, or heart palpitations. Those inflicted with such a disorder have recurrent fears of panic attacks and feel anxious whilst such symptomology appears to be in remission. Recent diagnostic criteria such as DSM-III-R and DSM-IV report prevalence of 2.3% (Kessler, Stang, Wittchen, Ustun, Roy-Byrne, & Walters; 1998)."

Tags:behavioural, cognitive, evidence, exposure, interoceptive, therapy

From the Paper
" Introduction
Anxiety disorders have a high prevalence and constitute some of the most frequent psychological problems seen in medical practice (Mavissakalian & Barlow, 1981). The purpose of this paper is to examine the very current research on the pharmacological treatment of agoraphobia. To this end, the paper first examines literature related to the kinds of drugs that are available for the disorder.

An examination is then made of the drugs that are most commonly dispensed and their effects on certain kinds of patients. The final section of the review examines the effectiveness of using a combined pharmacological and behavioral approach to the treatment of agoraphobia. The review ends with the formulation of conclusions based on the reviewed research."

From the Paper
"Anxiety disorders are the most common of all mental disorders. The term "anxiety disorders" describes a wide range of conditions in patients who present with physical and mental symptoms of distress that occur either as attacks or that persist over a period of time. Anxiety disorders are a symptom of almost all mental disorders.

A certain level of anxiety is normal in all individuals in response to certain stimuli. During times of stress, anxiety produces physiological changes that facilitate adaptive performance levels. If anxiety reaches the problem stage, it can negatively influence an individual's daily functioning.
Problem anxiety is characterized by three hallmarks: irrationality, paralysis, and intensity. If an individual's anxiety rages out of proportion to the reality of the danger, it..."

Abstract
This paper explains that, throughout the movie "Copy Cat", Dr. Helen Hudson deals with panic attacks and everyday life by taking a large amount of prescription pills and washing them down with bourbon whiskey to control her intense fear; she has been in her house for over thirteen months. The author believes that she would be diagnosed as having a panic disorder with agoraphobia associated with post traumatic stress disorder caused by the attack on her life in which she almost died herself after seeing a cop get shot. The paper concludes that the problem with the movie's portrayal of these conditions is that, at the end, she is cured instantly from agoraphobia, drug and alcohol abuse and panic attacks; plus she beats the bad guys and, all of the sudden, psychological life is grand.

From the Paper
"The character in the movie I would like to focus on is Dr. Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver). The movie starts out with Dr. Hudson being a very intelligent and capable person who is giving a lecture on serial killers at a University in San Francisco. The lecture goes well but afterwards she is attacked in the bathroom by a man (Harry Connick Jr.). We later learn that this man was on trial for murder and Dr. Hudson testified in court against him with her advanced knowledge on the subject. The attack was pretty graphic and she was rescued at the last minute by a police officer who heard gun shots. The movie then flashes to the present where Dr. Hudson is at home and suddenly wakes up sweating and hyperventilating. The images of the attack in the previous part of the movie now represent the dream she was having. In my opinion, they wanted the audience to think she has reoccurring nightmare about the attack."

Tags:comorbidity, agoraphobia, panic, post-traumatic, abuse

Abstract
This paper examines how psychiatric disorders affect people of all ages and walks of life and how some are diagnosable as early as infancy. It analyzes how much of the etiology of today's recognized disorders and syndromes in children are poorly understood and difficult to trace in children and adolescents. It looks at how many factors contribute to this lack of empirical evidence and how studies are ongoing with intent to isolate, define and better treat these conditions in our children. It describes some of these conditions and looks at the etiology, characteristics, morbidity and mortality.

Outline
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia
Adolescent Social Phobia
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

From the Paper
"Many clinicians view Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as a neuropsychiatric disorder. These symptoms have been alleviated in early trials by using serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) leading researchers to believe that OCD may be a genetically acquired disorder. Further, neuroimaging indicates the possibility of abnormal functioning in neurological circuits linking cortical areas of the brain to the basal ganglia. SSRIs also appear to help with this disorder. Further studies are being conducted to establish the interrelationship of neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine abnormalities in childhood-onset OCD and will ultimately be compiled to determine the causal factors."

Tags:panic, disorder, compulsive, obsessive, stress

Abstract
This paper elaborates on the biological aspects of the Panic disorder in patients without agoraphobia.

Tags:biological, causes, panic

Abstract
The paper reviews the academic literature on gestalt therapy and focuses on some of the quantitative and qualitative studies that explore the impact of gestalt therapy on relieving psychological anxiety in subject groups. The paper looks at how cultural integration can influence gestalt therapy and how it can permit this therapy to assist people in optimizing their quality of life and psychological well-being. The paper concludes that while the scholarly literature is not uniformly in favor of gestalt therapy, the academic view is generally a favorable one.

From the Paper
"The number of purely qualitative studies that have been done on gestalt therapy is actually rather small; for the most part, it appears as though researchers prefer studies that are predominantly quantitative in nature - or studies that are a "mix" of qualitative and quantitative measures. As one consequence of this emphasis upon statistical measures, several of the studies pored over by this writer utilized bivariate and multivariate regression analysis to control for variables such as age, ethnicity and gender (sometimes also for socio-economic status) but these studies also used descriptive or qualitative devices to contextualize (or, more importantly, to defend) their empirical findings."

Tags:qualitative, quantitative, data, self-care, cultural, integration, agoraphobia