Katharina Domschke, Patrik D Seuling, Miriam A Schiele, Borwin Bandelow, Neeltje M Batelaan, Wicher A Bokma, Igor Branchi, Karl Broich, Julius Burkauskas, Simon J C Davies, Bernardo Dell'Osso, Harry Fagan, Naomi A Fineberg, Toshi A Furukawa, Stefan G Hofmann, Sean Hood, Nathan T M Huneke, Milan Latas, Nicky Lidbetter, Vasilios Masdrakis, R Hamish McAllister-Williams, Antonio E Nardi, Stefano Pallanti, Brenda W J H Penninx, Giampaolo Perna, Steve Pilling, Stefano Pini, Andreas Reif, Soraya Seedat, Gemma Simons, Shrikant Srivastava, Vesta Steibliene, Dan J Stein, Murray B Stein, Michael van Ameringen, Anton J L M van Balkom, Nic van der Wee, Peter Zwanzger, David S Baldwin
Anxiety disorders are very prevalent and often persistent mental disorders, with a considerable rate of treatment resistance which requires regulatory clinical trials of innovative therapeutic interventions. However, an explicit definition of treatment-resistant anxiety disorders (TR-AD) informing such trials is currently lacking. We used a Delphi method-based consensus approach to provide internationally agreed, consistent and clinically useful operational criteria for TR-AD in adults. Following a summary of the current state of knowledge based on international guidelines and an available systematic review, a survey of free-text responses to a 29-item questionnaire on relevant aspects of TR-AD, and an online consensus meeting, a panel of 36 multidisciplinary international experts and stakeholders voted anonymously on written statements in three survey rounds...
February 2024: World Psychiatry: Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)