UNLABELLED Panic disorder refers to the frequent and recurring acute attacks of anxiety. OBJECTIVE This study describes the routine use of mobiles phones (MPs) and investigates the appearance of possible emotional alterations or symptoms related to their use in patients with panic disorder (PD). BACKGROUND We compared patients with PD and agoraphobia being treated at the Panic and Respirati...

Objective: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an effective intervention for patients with panic disorder (PD). From a theoretical perspective, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy could also be useful in the treatment of PD because: (1) panic attacks can be experienced as life threatening; (2) panic memories specific to PD resemble traumatic memories as seen in posttr...

OBJECTIVE Clonidine, which inhibits locus coeruleus discharge, would seem for theoretical reasons to be a good antipanic drug. Panic disorder (PD) presents a heterogeneous cluster of symptoms and a classification based on subtypes has been suggested and the respiratory symptoms group appears as a distinct subtype. METHOD We report three cases of respiratory PD patients who were successfully t...

AIMS To study the validity of detecting panic disorder (PD) using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) in a high-risk population in primary care and to test whether modified evaluation algorithms improve the operating characteristics of this questionnaire. Furthermore, the influence of psychiatric comorbidity on the test characteristics of the panic module was studied. METHODS The PHQ was a...

The status of agoraphobia (AG) as an independent diagnostic category is reviewed and preliminary options and recommendations for the fifth edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) are presented. The review concentrates on epidemiology, psychopathology, neurobiology, vulnerability and risk factors, clinical course and outcome, and correlates and consequences of AG since 1990. Dif...

Panic disorder (PD) is a common psychiatric illness that can have a chronic, relapsing course. Epidemiological data has documented a lifetime prevalence of 0.4% to 3.5%, and the illness usually begins during early to middle adulthood with a female to male preponderance (Weissman et al., 1997). Other data have shown that after remission of panic symptoms, women may be more likely than men to exp...

Although hypochondriasis (HC) is considered a somatoform disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision), some authors have pointed out that the symptoms of HC overlap with certain anxiety disorders, namely, panic disorder (PD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Few studies have empirically addressed this overlap. In the present investigation...

Panic disorder (PD) has been hypothesized to be a heterogeneous entity, with distinct clinical subgroups. The presence of depersonalization during panic attacks may distinguish a specific subgroup of PD. We sought to analyze the differential features of a subgroup of PD patients with depersonalization. A total of 274 patients with PD were assessed and divided into 2 groups according to the pres...

Little is known about the intracellular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of panic disorder (PD). Abnormalities in the cyclic AMP system have been described in several psychiatric disorders but there are no studies in panic patients. We evaluated not only the levels of platelet cyclic AMP, but also cyclic GMP and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in patients with PD at baseline and ...

Reflective functioning in patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia: an examination of the effects of comorbid personality disorders by Tempe A. Watts Advisers: Diana Diamond, Ph.D. and Barbara Milrod, M.D. This study examined reflective functioning (RF) in patients who experience a combination of panic and personality disorders (PD). Despite broadly accepted beliefs that comorbi...