German Clinical Trials Register

Acronym/abbreviation of the study

SAET

URL of the study

No Entry

Brief summary in lay language

In the treatment of panic disorders and agoraphobia the main focus is on so-called exposure therapy, in which patients learn to confront themselves with fear-provoking bodily sensations and situations and to endure them until the fear starts to decrease. The effectiveness of exposure therapy has been verified in many studies. But in classical exposure therapy the procedure is relatively complex: The therapist has to accompany the patient during exposure sessions, patients have to carry paper-based instructions with them and each exposure exercise needs to be logged manually. The company Mindable Health has now developed a smartphone-app (Mindable) for exposure therapy in panic disorders and agoraphobia (https://www.mindable.health). The app includes elements of pdychoeducation and a large number of exposure training sessions, which patients can carry out on their own or along with their therapist. Additionally, fear symptoms and exposure training sessions can be directly logged digitally within the app. The aim of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of the app in a sample of patients diagnosed with panic disorder and/or agoraphobia. It will be investigated to what extent Mindable is helpful in patients with frequent comorbidities who are on the waiting list for ambulatory psychotherapy or day-care treatment. Additionally, we will investigate whether app-based exposure therapy is more effective than app-based relaxation training.

Brief summary in scientific language

Panic disorders and agoraphobia are common anxiety disorders that often occur comorbidly. With cognitive behavior therapy both disorders are usually well treatable. The treatment focuses on so-called exposure therapy, in which patients learn to confront themselves with fear-provoking bodily sensation and situations and to endure them until the fear starts to decrease. Repeated exposure leads to a habituation effect, which reduces the symptoms in the long term. The effectiveness of exposure therapy has been verified in many studies. But in classical exposure therapy the procedure is relatively complex: The therapist has to accompany the patient during exposure sessions, patients have to carry paper-based instructions with them and each exposure exercise needs to be logged manually. The company Mindable Health has now, in cooperation with the Christoph-Dornier foundation for clinical psychotherapy, developed a smartphone-app (Mindable) for exposure therapy in panic disorders and agoraphobia (https://www.mindable.health). Mindable is based on a therapy manual for panic disorders and agoraphobia by Lang et al. (2018). The app includes elements of pdychoeducation and a large number of exposure training sessions, which patients can carry out on their own or along with their therapist. Additionally, fear symptoms and exposure trainings can be directly logged digitally within the app. The aim of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of Mindable in a sample of patients diagnosed with panic disorder and/or agoraphobia. It will be investigated to what extent Mindable can reduce the symptoms in patients who are on the waiting list for ambulatory psychotherapy or day-care treatment. Additionally, we will investigate whether app-based exposure therapy leads to a stronger reduction of symptoms than app-based relaxation training.