Phobic Disorders Four Years after Treatment: A Prospective Follow-up

TLDR: In recent years several workers have followed-up the status of patients with phobic disorders after treatment, but evaluation was largely based on past records, and systematic interviews did not provide the main source of data.

Abstract: Sixty-five out-patients with phobic disorders of more than a year's duration were followed-up prospectively for four years after completion of treatment. This was a follow-up rate of 92 per cent of all patients who were treated. Phobias improved during treatment, but then remained static for the group as a whole over the follow-up period. The following ratings did not change for the group as a whole: general anxiety, depression, obsessions, depersonalization, work, social and sexual adjustment, and family and other relationships. Forty-two per cent of patients were unimproved in their phobias at the end of follow-up. Fifteen per cent required further treatment for depressive episodes, during which phobias were aggravated temporarily. One patient developed new paranoid features with depression. The group remained one of phobic disorders and did not develop any other kind of neurotic syndrome.