BREATHING RETRAINING IN THE TREATMENT OF HYPERVENTILATORY COMPLAINTS AND PANIC DISORDER - A REPLY

The first PurPose of the present article is to provide an adjoiner to Garssen, de Ruiter, and van Dyck's 1992 review of studies which support the therapeutic effects of breathing retraining in the treatment of hyperventilatory complaints in general and panic disorder in particular. The article focuses on the results and the methodology of a selection of relevant studies for the purpose of bringing attention to details which aid in the interpretation of data as they pertain to the efficacy of breathing retraining. The second purpose is to provide a critical examination of two studies which led Garssen et al. (1992) to question the rationale underlying breathing retraining and suggest that it might be a ''rational placebo. '' The conclusion reached following the critical examination was that, while it cannot be proven that breathing retraining is not a ''rational placebo,'' there is neither an empirical nor logical basis for questioning the rationale.