Psychotherapy of anxiety disorders: state of the art

Background Alongside depression, anxiety disorders are the most frequent reason for consulting a psychotherapist. Objective This article describes the recent progress in understanding basic learning processes in anxiety treatment, the resulting therapeutic procedures, the current state of knowledge on the efficacy of the various psychotherapeutic procedures and on the moderators of the success of treatment. Material and methods The English and German language literature was reviewed and compiled, with an emphasis on the last 10 years. Results Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) achieves the best and broadest level of evidence across all anxiety disorders. Initial studies have also provided emerging evidence for the efficacy of manualized short-term psychodynamic treatment. The most discussed mechanism of action is that of inhibitory learning. Augmentation strategies and personalized treatment approaches are gaining in relevance. Conclusion Current models of inhibitory learning are rooted in basic research and foster a deeper understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. In order to optimize success of exposure treatment in vulnerable subgroups of patients, many procedural, device-based and pharmacological augmentation strategies are currently under investigation, whereby the latter are mostly still in the stage of (pre)clinical testing.