Once a drug has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) as a result of clinical trials, practitioners have the opportunity to offer feedback to the FDA on any shortcomings in the use of the drug in clinical practice. The Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, is in the process of establishing a mechanism whereby practicing psychotherapists can report their clinical experiences using empirically supported treatments (ESTs).

This is not only an opportunity for clinicians to share their experiences with other therapists, but also to offer information that can encourage researchers to investigate ways of overcoming these limitations. We are starting with the treatment of panic disorder, but will extend our efforts to the treatment of other problems at a later time.

This questionnaire provides the opportunity for therapists using cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) in treating panic to share their clinical experiences about those variables they have found to limit the successful reduction of symptomotology. Although research is underway to determine if other therapies can successfully treat panic, CBT is the only approach at present that is an EST. However, in order for the field to move from an EST to an evidence based treatment that works well in practice settings, we need to know more about the clinical experience of therapists who make use of these supported interventions in actual clinical practice. By identifying the obstacles to successful treatment, we can then take steps to overcome these shortcomings.

Your responses, which will be anonymous, will be tallied with those of other therapists and posted on the Division 12 Web site at a later time with links made to it from other relevant Web sites. The results of the feedback we receive from clinicians will be provided to researchers, in the hope they can investigate ways of overcoming these obstacles.

It should take you only 10 minutes to complete this.