Hans-Ulrich Wittchen – författare

The proceedings of a conference convened by the APA, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the book explores a dimensional approach to diagnosing substance dependence, major depressive episode, psychosis, anxiety disorders, developmental psychopathology, and personality disorders.

Topics include: The size and burden of Anxiety worldwide: An update, Patterns of comorbidity and the structure of anxiety and mental disorders revisited: Lumping or splitting?, Anxiety and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: Developmental issues, precursor conditions, etc., Anxiety disorder - all the same? Anxiety as fear circuitry disorders Anxiety disorders - all the same? Genetic and psychoneuroendocrinological mechanisms, First line treatment: A critical appraisal of CBT developments and alternatives, Panic/ Agoraphobia, GAD, Social Phobia, Specific phobias, stress-related disorders and PTSD, OCD and related disorders, Public Health Perspective: Why did we fail?

Despite the fact that methods of exposure therapy have proven to be highly effective in various empirical studies, they are still underused and sometimes subject to controversial discussion.There have been significant developments: In recent years, methods of exposure therapy have been applied in various areas of therapy, including body dysmorphic disorder and hypochondriasis. Exposure techniques also play an important role in the so called “third wave therapies” (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy).And there is more recently a revival of exposure in panic and agoraphobia and GAD. On the other hand, a large number of scientific articles discuss the practical applications (ethical aspects, amount of exposure) and the theoretical foundations (habituation) of exposure therapy.In order to provide an overview of the current debate and to point out the latest developments in the area of exposure therapy, we have decided to present the current state of discussion (most contributors are scientist-practitioners) to an interested professional audience.

Exposure methods have evolved far from their therapeutic origins as phobia treatments. This volume collects material from leading experts who offer critical reviews of a range of modalities, including 'third-wave' therapies, as well as issues such as ethics.

Im deutschen Sprachraum fehlt bisher eine zusammenfassende, praxisnahe Darstellung der raschen und oft nur noch schwer uberschaubaren Entwicklung der Verhaltenstherapie in verschiedenen Bereichen der Medizin. Die 1987 erfolgte Einfuhrung der Verhaltenstherapie in die Krankenversorgung, mit der dadurch erforderlich gewordenen Intensivierung der Aus- und Weiterbildung von Therapeuten, macht diese Lucke ebenso deutlich, wie der breite Indikationskatalog fur Verhaltenstherapie in den seit 1987 gultigen neuen Psychotherapierichtlinien der Krankenkassenverbande und der kassenarztlichen Vereinigungen. Die heute sehr vielschichtigen Anwendungsbereiche der Verhaltenstherapie bei psychiatrischen, somatischen und Abhangigkeits-Erkrankungen werden in diesem Buch praxisnah auf dem aktuellen Forschungsstand dargestellt. Durch die breite Auswahl der behandelten Erkrankungen stellt dieser Band eine reprasentative, exemplarische Zusammenfassung standardisierter wie innovativer Behandlungs- und Forschungsmodelle dar.Durchgangig werden die Handlungs- und Behandlungsstrategie und die Erstellung eines ubergeordneten Storungsmodells als unerlassliche Grundlagen der Indikationsstellung und der Anwendung spezifischer, z.T. symptomgerichteter Techniken herausgearbeitet.

Behavioral and biological research in behavioral techniques were developed recent years have produced partially con- already in the early 1970s (Hand et al. tradictory treatment results and recom- 1974) and have proved extremely success- mendations for phobias with and without ful in long-term follow-ups (Hand et al. 1986). The occurrence of panic attacks panic attacks, for panic disorder, and for anxiety disorders in a broader sense. independent of phobic trigger situations The new classification of anxiety disor- is almost never mentioned as an obstacle to the effective behavioral therapy of ders in both DSM-III (1980) and its revision DSM-IIIR (1987), which gives phobias. panic attacks a key role with regard to Until very recently, professional interac- etiology, differential diagnoses, and treat- tion and mutual evaluation regarding ment has not only stimulated research in these contradictory views and results have this field but has also provoked growing been almost non-existent. Together with controversy among clinicians and resear- European and American colleagues, we chers.Biologically oriented authors have addressed these questions in a previous interpreted anxiety disorders with panic volume, examining in more detail the attacks as "endogenous" disorders linked epidemiological, psychopathological, and to depression, claiming pharmacological experimental evidence for each of these treatments to be the essential interven- positions (Hand and Wittchen 1986).