The isomorphism of dorsal periaqueductal gray-evoked defensive behaviors and panic attacks was appraised in the present study. Thresholds of electrically induced immobility, trotting, galloping, jumping, exophthalmus, micturition and defecation were recorded before and after acute injections of anxiolytic, anxiogenic and antidepressant drugs. Antidepressant effects were further assessed 24h aft...

E uropean Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT) is now completing its third volume. It is exciting to see how the range of articles addressing both clinical issues as well as more basic research, include samples of simple and complex PTSD as well as other disorders such as substance use disorder (e.g. Gielen et al., 2012) or posttraumatic panic attacks (Joscelyne et al., 2012). The populations s...

Oral and intravenous challenge paradigms with the direct 5-HT agonist meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP) in panic disorder (PD) have shown only moderate sensitivity or selectivity of the panicogenic effects in PD. However, the results of a study examining the effects of rapid intravenous administration of 0.1 mg/kg of m-CPP in healthy volunteers suggested that this approach may be a more selec...

Panic attacks are psychopathological phenomena with a strong emotional activation that often induces subsequent anticipatory anxiety and phobic avoidance. Impairment in emotional processing in patients with Panic Disorder (PD) has been hypothesized. Emotional Intelligence (EI) involves the individual abilities to perceive, understand and manage emotions in order to cope with changes in internal...

Ten women with DSM-III-defined panic attacks (five with and five without agoraphobia) had symptom severity rated daily, weekly, and retrospectively through one full menstrual cycle. Substantial fluctuations in retrospective ratings of severity were observed, with the premenstrual week being rated as most severe. Daily and weekly ratings showed much smaller fluctuations in the predicted directio...

In this study we examined how personality disposition may affect the response to cholecystokinin tetrapeptide (CCK-4; 50 microg) challenge in healthy volunteers (n=105). Personality traits were assessed with the Swedish universities Scales of Personality (SSP). Statistical methods employed were correlation analysis and logistic regression. The results showed that the occurrence of CCK-4-induced...

Previous research showed that lowering the availability of serotonin to the brain by tryptophan depletion increases the vulnerability of panic disorder patients for an experimental 35% CO(2) panic challenge. The results also suggested that increased availability of serotonin inhibits the response to such a challenge. In the present study, this latter possibility is examined. The reaction of 24 ...

This article presents data on the prevalence and symptomatology of panic attacks and panic disorder (PD) in a large nonclinical sample (n = 2,375) of college students. Results showed that approximately 12% of the sample had experienced at least one unexpected panic attack and that 2.36% met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder. Although there were no sex differences in overall panic attack pre...

The empirical literature regarding panic-spectrum problems (i.e., panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia) and cigarette smoking is reviewed. In the first section of the paper, empirical studies that document the prevalence of smoking and panic-related problems are presented and discussed. In the second section of the paper, studies pertaining to the role cigarette smoking may play in th...

Anxiety disorders, especially panic disorder, are the prevalent psychiatric disorders. Given the high prevalence of this disorder (1.5 to 5 percent of the population), significant impact on quality of life and dysfunctional cognitions during panic attacks and cognitive functions, the present study examined the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy on improvement of cognitive functions patien...