BACKGROUND Panic disorder is one of the anxiety disorders, and anxiety is associated with some locomotor activity changes such as "restlessness". However, there have been few studies on locomotor activity in panic disorder using actigraphy, although many studies on other psychiatric disorders have been reported using actigraphy. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the rel...

BACKGROUND Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) seems to be as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the treatment of major depression. Because the onset of panic attacks is often related to increased interpersonal life stress, IPT has the potential to also treat panic disorder. To date, a preliminary open trial yielded promising results but there have been no randomized controlled tr...

BACKGROUND Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease of unknown etiology, in which granulomas develop in various organs, including the skin, lungs, eyes, or heart. It has been reported that patients with sarcoidosis are more likely to develop panic disorder than members of the general population. However, there are many unknown factors concerning the causal relationship between these conditions. CASE...

Some data suggest that panic patients with extensive agoraphobia (PDA) display more intense respiratory distress during their panic attacks than Panic disorder (PD) patients. However, no studies have determined if PDA patients also show heightened sensitivity to a respiratory challenge compared to PD patients. The current study examined the differential emotional responding to hyperventilation ...

BACKGROUND Panic disorder is a common and severe psychiatric disorder. The estimated current prevalence rate for panic disorder is 1% to 2% of the adult population. Panic disorder is commonly accompanied by major depression, substance use disorders, and other anxiety disorders. Female gender, low socioeconomic status, and anxious childhood temperament are common risk factors for panic disorder....

The Food and Drug Administration indication of alprazolam for the treatment of panic disorder tacitly suggests that it does not induce panic attacks. This suggestion is amplified by the history of alprazolam as the first medication approved for panic disorder. Moreover, alprazolam acutely decreases anxiety symptoms, including panic, and is widely used for this indication. Although dependence, w...

In a sample of 94 panic patients, 43 patients (45.7%) had comorbid depression. In majority of patients, the comorbid depression was severe enough to be diagnosed as major depression. Panic patients with depression were more severely functionally impaired and had more generalized anxiety symptoms as compared to pure panic patients. There were no significant differences between panic patients wit...

The current diagnostic criteria for panic disorder, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994), are comprised of recurrent unexpected panic attacks, and anxiety about future panic attacks or their consequences, or a significant behavioral change because of the panic attacks. The additional anxiety about pa...

OBJECTIVE Classical conditioning features prominently in many etiological accounts of panic disorder. According to such accounts, neutral conditioned stimuli present during panic attacks acquire panicogenic properties. Conditioned stimuli triggering panic symptoms are not limited to the original conditioned stimuli but are thought to generalize to stimuli resembling those co-occurring with pani...