The treatment of anxiety is on the edge of a new era of combinations of pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions. A new wave of translational research has focused on the use of pharmacological agents as psychotherapy adjuvants using neurobiological insights into the mechanism of the action of certain psychological treatments such as exposure therapy. Recently, d-cycloserine (DCS) an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis has been applied to enhance exposure-based treatment for anxiety and has proved to be a promising, but as yet unproven intervention. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of DCS in the enhancement of exposure therapy in anxiety disorders. A systematic review/meta-analysis was conducted. Electronic searches were conducted in the databases ISI-Web of Science, Pubmed and PsycINFO. We included only randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials with humans, focusing on the role of DCS in enhancing the action of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. We identified 328 references, 13 studies were included in our final sample: 4 on obsessive-compulsive disorder, 2 on panic disorder, 2 on social anxiety disorder, 2 on posttraumatic stress disorder, one on acrophobia, and 2 on snake phobia. The results of the present meta-analysis show that DCS enhances exposure therapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders (Cohen d =  −0.34; CI: −0.54 to −0.14), facilitating the specific process of extinction of fear. DCS seems to be effective when administered at a time close to the exposure therapy, at low doses and a limited number of times. DCS emerges as a potential new therapeutic approach for patients with refractory anxiety disorders that are unresponsive to the conventional treatments available. When administered correctly, DCS is a promising strategy for augmentation of CBT and could reduce health care costs, drop-out rates and bring faster relief to patients.

Natural disasters can have devastating consequences. Each year, about 225 million people are victims of natural disasters worldwide, and up to 13,5 million of these people can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the first or second year following the disaster. Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is the first-choice treatment for this disorder. In order to evaluate the efficacy of psychotherapeutic treatment based on cognitive-behavior therapy for people who developed post traumatic stress disorder after natural disasters we conducted a systematic search of published studies. We used the terms reported below in the electronic databases ISI Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, PILOTS and Scopus with no restrictions of language or publication date. Articles that described randomized controlled, non-randomized controlled and non controlled studies on the efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy for individuals diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after exposure to a natural disaster were eligible for inclusion. The studies were required to use a standardized measure of effectiveness before and after the intervention and have a group of patients who had used cognitive-behavior therapy as the only intervention. Our search identified 820 studies, and 11 were selected for this review. These 11 studies involved 742 subjects, 10 related to earthquakes and 1 to a hurricane. The cognitive-behavior therapy techniques used were various: 7 studies used exposure therapy, 2 studies used problem solving, and the only 2 studies with adolescents used techniques including reconstructions and reprocessing of the traumatic experience. As limitations, the search involved only five electronic databases, no experts in the field were consulted, and the heterogeneity of the findings made it impossible to perform a meta-analysis. The results suggest the efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy, particularly exposure techniques, for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder after earthquakes. However, further studies with stronger methodologies, i.e. randomized-control trials and non-randomized controlled trials, are needed.

Even though the post-treatment evaluation showed scores compatible with the average, comparison between pre- and post-treatment evaluations demonstrated the impact of radiotherapy on the subject's cognitive profile. These results highlight the importance of evaluating patients who undergo radiotherapy before and after treatment and understanding neuropsychological scores associated with the subjects' complaints.