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Panic and Agoraphobia: Gender as a Factor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Kimberly A. Yonkers
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Extract

Anxiety is a common experience, particularly as a response to life stressors. However, severe and uncontrollable anxiety can become a mental disorder. Community studies indicate that 19% of men and 31% of women will develop some type of anxiety disorder during their lifetime. In one such study, the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), risk factors associated with a lifetime of anxiety disorder included lower income, less education, living in the northeast, and being female. The impact of patient sex is profound in that it increases the likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder by 85% in women compared to men.

Panic disorder is characterized by brief but intense recurrent episodes of fear or discomfort. Diagnostic criteria require recurrent panic attacks in 1 month or one panic attack with continuous fear of other attacks. Symptoms associated with the panic attack include palpitations; sweating; feeling short of breath or a choking sensation; nausea or abdominal discomfort; feeling dizzy; having a sense of unreality; numbness or tingling; chills or hot flushes; and a fear of dying or losing control.

Type
Symposium Monograph Supplement
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 9 , Issue 9 , September 2004 , pp. 6 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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