1. Spouse-Aided Therapy with Agoraphobics
- Author
-
B. Eisen, R. Heins, E.J. Onstein, R. van Dyck, Paul M. G. Emmelkamp, M. Bitter, and Onderzoeksinstituut Psychologie (FMG)
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Treatment response ,Psychotherapist ,MARITAL QUESTIONNAIRE MMQ ,INVENTORY ,ADJUSTMENT ,Marital relations ,Personality Assessment ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Hostility ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Marriage ,Agoraphobia ,PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION ,Patient Care Team ,EXPOSURE INVIVO ,PHOBIC PATIENTS ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Social relation ,030227 psychiatry ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Personality Development ,BEHAVIOR-THERAPY ,Avoidance behaviour ,Spouse ,Female ,Desensitization, Psychologic ,HUSBANDS ,Psychology ,Anxiety disorder ,Follow-Up Studies ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
Sixty agoraphobics were treated by behavioural therapy (self-exposure in vivo) either with their partner involved in all aspects of treatment or without their partner. The two treatment formats were about equally effective. Behavioural treatment directed at the agoraphobia resulted in improvement irrespective of marital quality and partner involvement in the therapy. The effects of treatment led neither to a deterioration of the marriage nor to adjustment problems in the partner. Avoidance behaviour, intropunitivity and overprotection were found to predict treatment response. The partners of agoraphobics were not found to have psychological problems themselves.
- Published
- 1992