Panic disorder (PD) is a severe, chronic disorder characterized by one or more unexpected panic attacks followed by worry about additional attacks and/or the implications of the attacks. If attacks are sufficiently severe or frequent, they can promote marked, sometimes debilitating behavioral changes. Many panic disorder sufferers appear to be incompletely responsive to treatment and are subjec...

BACKGROUND Inhalation of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) has been shown to produce more anxiety in patients with panic disorder (PD) than in healthy comparison subjects or patients with most other psychiatric illnesses tested, although premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) may be an exception. Several reasons have been proposed to explain CO(2) breathing effects in PD. We examined differences in respir...

the aim of this study was to compare defense styles and mechanisms in adult patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (ocd), and panic disorder (pd) with normal subjects in iran.defensive patterns of 22 patients with ocd, 28 patients with pd and those of 116 normal individuals (as a control group) were assessed using the farsi version of defense style questionnaire-40 (dsq-40). the ...

Anxiety sensitivity (AS), which refers to the tendency to interpret anxiety-related bodily sensations as having potentially harmful somatic, psychological or social consequences, has been proposed as a vulnerability factor for the development of panic disorder (PD). The current study examined the anxiety sensitivity levels in children of parents with panic disorder. Children of panic disorder p...

We examined mediational models of panic-fear, panic disorder (PD), and asthma outcomes among adult asthma patients. PD was assessed by the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule. Twenty-one asthma-PD patients and 27 asthma-only patients completed spirometry and questionnaires. Asthma-PD patients reported greater illness-specific and generalized panic-fear than asthma-only patients, despite no dif...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to verify a possible correlation between panic symptoms and photosensitivity, not only in panic disorder (PD) but also in the panic-agoraphobic spectrum. METHOD One hundred and sixty-nine healthy and drug-free subjects completed the Structured Clinical Interview for Panic-Agoraphobic Spectrum-Lifetime version (SCI-PAS-Lifetime) and the Photosensitivity Assessment Qu...

BACKGROUND Nonfearful panic disorder (NFPD) is a type of panic disorder (PD) that was first described in 1987 among cardiology patients who had panic attacks without the experience of fear. NFPD may be considered a subtype of PD with significant impact on the long-term outcome of chest pain patients. OBJECTIVE The authors sought to explore the long-term outcome of NFPD and PD. METHOD Author...

BACKGROUND Internet based self-help for panic disorder (PD) has proven to be effective. However, studies so far have focussed on treating a full-blown disorder. Panic symptoms that do not meet DSM-IV criteria are more prevalent than the full-blown disorder and patients with sub-clinical panic symptoms are at risk of developing PD. This study is a randomised controlled trial aimed to evaluate an...

CONTEXT Only limited information exists about the epidemiology of DSM-IV panic attacks (PAs) and panic disorder (PD). OBJECTIVE To present nationally representative data about the epidemiology of PAs and PD with or without agoraphobia (AG) on the basis of the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication findings. DESIGN AND SETTING Nationally representative face-to-face household survey condu...

Our aim was to determine whether panic disorder (PD) patients, major depressive patients without panic attacks (MD) and major depressive patients with panic attacks (MDP) respond similarly to hyperventilation challenge tests. We randomly selected 35 PD patients, 33 MDP patients, 27 MD patients and 30 normal volunteers with no family history of anxiety or mood disorder. The patients had not been...