“…Anxiety disorders are among the five most burdensome disorders in countries across the world (Melse et al 2000;Jorm et al 2002;Saarni et al 2006Saarni et al , 2007 because of high prevalence rates (Wittchen & Jacobi, 2005;Wittchen et al 2011), chronic course (Keller, 2003(Keller, , 2006Wittchen & Fehm, 2003;Yonkers et al 2003;Fehm et al 2005;Goodwin et al 2005;Lieb et al 2005) and consequences of impaired functioning (Leon et al 1995;Greenberg et al 1999;Batelaan et al 2007b;Acarturk et al 2009;Gustavsson et al 2011). Post-morbid functioning is also a relevant outcome when considering that it impacts quality of life and predicts the recurrence of anxiety disorders (Rodriguez et al 2005;Scholten et al 2013). Therefore, there is growing consensus that efforts to curb the toll of anxiety disorders should focus not only on symptom remission but also on functional recovery (Ballenger, 1999(Ballenger, , 2001Bandelow, 2006), thus aiming for a complete clinical and functional recovery.…”