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Panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PD/A) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are characterized by major behavioral dysruptions that may affect patients’ social and marital functioning. The disorders’ impact on interpersonal relationships may also affect the quality of support patients receive from their social network. The main goal of this systematic review is to determine the association between social or marital support and symptom severity among adults with PD/A or OCD. A systematic search of databases was executed and provided 35 eligible articles. Results from OCD studies indicated a negative association between marital adjustment and symptom severity, and a positive association between accommodation from relatives and symptom severity. However, results were inconclusive for negative forms of social support (e.g. criticism, hostility). Results from PD/A studies indicated a negative association between perceived social support and symptom severity. Also, results from studies using an observational measure of marital adjustment indicated a negative association between quality of support from the spouse and PD/A severity. However, results were inconclusive for perceived marital adjustment and symptom severity. In conclusion, this systematic review generally suggests a major role of social and marital support in PD/A and OCD symptomatology. However, given diversity of results and methods used in studies, more are needed to clarify the links between support and symptom severity among patients with PD/A and OCD.

In recent years, many authors have written on the importance of analyzing social support when it comes to understanding PTSD patients. However, the effects of important aspects of the social support construct itself, such as the source of support and its underlying psychosocial processes, remain relatively unexamined. Using a qualitative design, this study sought to explore social support processes between PTSD patients and their relatives. More specifically, thematic and conversational analysis were performed on filmed interactions between 48 PTSD patients and an accompanying person (AP) of their choice. Results indicated that female PTSD patients generally presented a higher frequency of negative interactions than male diagnosed with PTSD. Moreover, couples generally experienced more negative social support compared to non-couples. Finally, it was found that the length of the relationship as well as the onset of the PTSD (before or after the beginning of the relationship) influenced the quality of the interactions for couples in this sample. To our knowledge, this study is one of the few qualitative research that has been made on interactions between PTSD patients and their relatives. This study also offers an innovative point of view on the social processes underlying marital and social support, such as the impact of the length and moment of apparition of romantic relationships on the quality of support offered.

In psychotherapy outcome research, many empirical studies have shown that cognitive be‐ havioural treatments are efficacious for many disorders [1]. In a recent systematic review of 27 studies, Hofmann and Smits [2] show that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has pro‐ ven to be an unquestionably efficacious treatment for adult anxiety disorder when com‐ pared to both pharmacological and psychological placebos. However, they conclude that there was considerable room for improvement. Moreover, the high complexity and co-mor‐ bidity that is often found with anxiety disorders sometimes requires the use of two or more treatment methods that are flexible and adjustable to one other [3]. According to Kirsch, Lynn, and Rue [4] and Schoenberger [5], hypnosis can be integrated easily into current cog‐ nitive and behavioural interventions in clinical practice. Indeed, CBT and hypnosis share a number of aspects that render their combination natural; for example, imagery and relaxa‐ tion, which are found in both techniques [6]. Hypnosis has been used effectively in a variety of medical settings (surgery, dentistry, chronic pain management, labour etc.) and several studies report its efficacy in the treatment of anxiety disorders [7-13]. A recent systematic re‐ view of randomized controlled trials concludes that current evidence is not sufficient to sup‐ port the use of hypnosis as a sole treatment for anxiety [14]. However, in a meta-analysis, Kirsch, Montgomery, and Sapirstein [15] found that the addition of hypnosis to CBT sub‐ stantially enhanced the treatment outcome for several problems (anxiety, obesity, pain, etc.). The addition of hypnosis to CBT helps the patient in several aspects of therapy, such as the preparation for in-vivo exposure, imagery exposure, developing coping skills, and cognitive restructuring [6, 16-18]. Moreover, patients using hypnosis effectively develop a better sense of self-efficacy, which is known to enhance self-regulation and is linked to lower psychologi‐

The prevalence of personality disorders varies between 0.5% and 2.5% in the general popu‐ lation and it increases drastically in the clinical population [1, 2]. In a psychiatric population, about one half of all patients have pathological personality [3]. Following the multiaxial classification of the Diagnostic Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IVTR; [1]), Axis II personality disorders are defined as being stable, inflexible, and pervasive patterns of psychological experiences and behaviors that differ prominently from cultural expectations, and that lead to clinically significant distress or impairment in important areas of functioning. In the DSM-IV-TR, there are 10 distinct personality disorders organized into three clusters. Cluster ′′A′′ includes three personality disorders considered as odd or eccen‐ tric: paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal. Antisocial, borderline, narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders are grouped under Cluster ′′B′′, which is considered as the dramatic, emotional or erratic cluster. Finally, Cluster ′′C′′ comprises three anxious or fearful person‐ ality disorders: the avoidant personality disorder, the dependent personality disorder and the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. In the next version of the DSM (DSM-V), the task force is proposing some major changes for Axis II and as per the may 1st 2012 online revision[4], the DSM-V will retain six personality disorder types : schizotypal, antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive.