Two-year follow-up after a randomised controlled trial of self- and clinician-accompanied exposure for phobia/panic disorders.

Background Long-term follow-up has rarely been reported after self-exposure therapy for phobias. Aims Completion of such a follow-up. Method Two-year follow-up was achieved in 68(85%) of 80 patients with phobias who had completed a previous 14-week randomised controlled trial comparing therapist-accompanied self- exposure, self-exposure or self-relaxation. Measures were self-reported ratings of symptoms, satisfaction and use of other treatment. Results Improvement at week 4 was maintained 2 years later. Clinician-accompanied exposure and self-exposure did not differ on any measure. Compliance with self-exposure homework during weeks 0-8 predicted more improvement 2 years later. Patients who failed to improve with relaxation by week 14 improved after subsequent crossover to exposure. A need for more treatment for their phobias was still felt by 33 patients (49%). Conclusions Patients with phobias maintained their improvement to 2-year follow-up after the end of self-exposure therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]