[Cognitive-behavioral group treatment of panic attacks disorder: a description of the results obtained in a public mental health service]. / Trattamento cognitivo-comportamentale di gruppo del disturbo da attacchi di panico: descrizione dei risultati ottenuti in un servizio pubblico di salute mentale.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the short-term and at 6 months follow-up results of an intensive cognitive-behavioural group treatment on subjects affected by Panic Disorder with or without Agoraphobia (DSM IV criteria). DESIGN AND SETTING: We studied a group of 22 subjects treated in the public Centro Psico Sociale of Zogno (Bergamo) and valuated them with self-rated instruments inherent the life satisfaction (SF/36) and symptoms andament (PAAAS; MSPS, STAI-X1, STAI-X2). The results indicate significant improvements at the end of treatment and at a 6 months follow up. CONCLUSIONS: We are studying the long-term results with others follow up valuations. The most important results, anyway, is the demonstration that also in an Italian public mental health centre, as in many foreign countries, is possible to treat patients affected by Anxiety Disorders with effectual and relatively low cost techniques and that is possible to introduce objective results indicators in the routinary clinical activity.

The proposal of the Italian Committee on Occupational Cardiology.

This paper describes a protocol of assessing specific working fitness of post-myocardial infarction patients proposed by the Italian Committee on Occupational Cardiology. After cardiovascular (cross-sectional echocardiography, Holter monitoring and maximal symptom-limited ergometric test) and psychological evaluation (CBA-2.0), two ambulatory ECGs were used during work to confirm the first judgement of specific work fitness expressed by occupational specialists. The preliminary results obtained in 106 uncomplicated male patients (mean age 49 +/- 8 years) show that: (i) return to work (89.6%) at 117 +/- 51 days after the acute event is mainly related to socio-occupational variables rather than to cardiovascular status; (ii) the results of the ambulatory monitoring usually confirm the first judgment of specific work fitness; (iii) heart rate responses recorded during work are unrelated to the judgment of fitness; and (iv) the repeatability of the results observed during the two ambulatory ECGs at work is good.