Collective Behaviors: Mass Panic and Outbreaks of Multiple Unexplained Symptoms

Panic disorder as presenting symptoms of multiple sclerosis

Materials and methods A 47 years old female patient admitted to psychiatry clinic with attacs of palpitation, sweating, dispnea with a feeling of heart attack. These symptoms were present for 3 months,3-4 times a week and the patient started to have expectation anxiety. She was diagnosed as panic disorder and started paroxetine 20 mg/day. After one month her symptoms were not beter, and because...

Medically unexplained neurological symptoms

A 56-year-old woman with seronegative polyarthritis presented with a four-year history of lower back pain and right-sided sciatica. On examination she had reduced power and impaired sensation in her right leg. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine revealed anterior degenerative slip of L4 on L5 with moderate overall reduction in canal calibre and osteophyte encroachment in the right lat...

Explaining medically unexplained symptoms.

Patients with medically unexplained symptoms comprise from 15% to 30% of all primary care consultations. Physicians often assume that psychological factors account for these symptoms, but current theories of psychogenic causation, somatization, and somatic amplification cannot fully account for common unexplained symptoms. Psychophysiological and sociophysiological models provide plausible medi...

Panic attacks, depression and anxiety symptoms, and substance use behaviors during late adolescence.

This study examines panic attacks and substance use in a sample of incoming college freshman (n = 399 ) using questionnaires. Panickers (n = 47 ) were significantly more likely than nonpanickers (n = 290) to report having ever used sedatives, stimulants, opiods, and other drugs, but not tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, or hallucinogens. Gender and race did not substantially moderate the associations ...

Consequences of Medically Unexplained Symptoms