OBJECTIVE We aim to determine if a treatment with a dose of clonazepam--2 mg/day, for 6 weeks, blocks spontaneous panic attacks and the ones induced by the inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide (CO2) in panic disorder (PD) patients. The CO2 challenge-test may be a useful addition tool for measuring the pharmacological response during the initial phase (6 weeks) in the treatment of PD. METHOD Eight...

This article describes a reanalysis of seven studies on heart beat perception (HBP) in panic disorder. The pooled sample had 709 participants from eight diagnostic categories. Accurate HBP was uncommon, but more prevalent among panic disorder patients than among healthy controls, depressed patients, patients with palpitations and individuals with infrequent panic attacks. No differences were fo...

BACKGROUND Venlafaxine extended-release (ER) has proven efficacy in the treatment of anxiety symptoms in major depression, generalised anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder. AIMS To evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of venlafaxine ER in treating panic disorder. METHOD Adult out-patients (n=361) with panic disorder were randomly assigned to receive venlafaxine ER (75-225 ...

A cognitive model of panic is described. Within this model panic attacks arc said to result from the catastrophic misinterpretation of certain bodily sensations. The sensations which are misinterpreted are mainly those involved in normal anxiety responses (e.g. palpitations, breathlessness. dizziness etc.) but also include some other sensations. The catastrophic misinterpretation involves perce...

BACKGROUND/AIM To examine gender differences in the major psychopathologic features in agoraphobia with panic disorder. METHOD The study was conducted as a clinical study. The sample consisted of 119 patients, 32 men (26.9%) and 87 women (73.1%) with the basic diagnosis of agoraphobia with panic disorder. All the patients were evaluated with the clinical instruments suitable for the assessmen...

There is a burgeoning focus on the relation between serum cholesterol levels and psychiatric disorders, including depression and other anxiety disorders (1,2). Information about the relation between serum lipid levels and sleep disorders is relatively limited in the psychiatric literature. In a previous study, we found that serum cholesterol level was higher in patients with recurrent panic att...

UNLABELLED Research literature and clinical experience shows that panic patients are often able to identify stressors that preceded the onset of their first attacks. In this study we investigated the relation between life events, coping skills, and panic disorder. METHODS Forty-tree panic patients were compared with 29 control subjects regarding the occurrence and the impact of stressful life...

This clinical case report shows how important it is for a psychiatrist to have a knowledge of the cultural and religious context of the patient, in order to understand fully his or her complaints. Culture and religion, in fact, are not neutral, but convey symbols, meanings, and myths that should be properly explored to shed light on the patient's inner world. Patient D was a 19-year-old Muslim ...

OBJECTIVE Our aim was to observe if anxiety disorder patients - DSM-IV - respond in a similar way to the induction of panic attacks by a breath-holding challenge test. METHOD We randomly selected 29 panic disorder (PD) patients, 27 social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients, 21 generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients. They were induced to breath-hold for as long as possible four times with tw...

OBJECTIVE This study determined the efficacy and safety of sertraline in the treatment of patients with panic disorder. METHOD The study was a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, flexible-dose comparison of sertraline and placebo in outpatients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. After a 2-week single-blind placebo lead-in, 168 patients entered a 10...