Expanding agoraphobics' horizons: an investigation of the effectiveness of a personal construct psychotherapy intervention

This article investigated whether a personal construct group intervention would enhance the effectiveness of graduated exposure therapy for agoraphobia more than a supportive group intervention. Fifty-four clients were randomly allocated to the treatment conditions. Personal construct and supportive therapy sessions were differentiated on process measures. Although clients in the personal construct psychotherapy plus exposure condition improved more on some outcome measures during treatment than while on the waiting list, there was no evidence of difference in outcome between the two conditions. However, correlations between repertory grid scores and questionnaire measures, and changes in grid scores during therapy, provided support for the personal construct model of agoraphobia.