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Cognitive Aspects of Panic Attacks

Content, Course and Relationship to Laboratory Stressors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

D. Zucker ,
C. B. Taylor ,
M. Brouillard ,
A. Ehlers ,
J. Margraf ,
M. Telch ,
W. T. Roth  and
W. S. Agras
D. Zucker*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for the Study of Behavioral Medicine, Psychiatry Department, Stanford University School of Medicine
C. B. Taylor
Affiliation:
Behavioral Medicine Program, Stanford University School of Medicine
M. Brouillard
Affiliation:
Behavioral Medicine Program, Psychiatry Department, Stanford University School of Medicine
A. Ehlers
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Psychologie, Marburg, West Germany
J. Margraf
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Psychologie Marburg, West Germany
M. Telch
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas
W. T. Roth
Affiliation:
Behavioral Medicine Program, Stanford University School of Medicine
W. S. Agras
Affiliation:
Behavioral Medicine Program, Stanford University School of Medicine
*
∗Behavioral Medicine Program, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5490 USA
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Abstract

Twenty patients with panic attacks and ten controls were given a standardised interview about thoughts occurring during times of anxiety or panic attacks. The interviewer was blind to the subject's diagnosis. The 20 panic patients underwent a psychophysiological test battery which included a cold pressor test, mental arithmetic task, and 5.5% CO2 inhalation. More patients than controls reported thoughts centred on fears of losing control and shame when anxious. Panic patients rated their thoughts as stronger and clearer than did controls and they had more difficulty excluding them from their minds. A feeling of anxiety preceded anxious thoughts in patients. This suggests that ‘faulty cognitions' are not the initial event in a panic attack, although anxious thoughts may exacerbate or maintain them. Significant correlations were found between the intensity of anxiety-related thoughts in anticipation of mental arithmetic and changes in diastolic blood pressure and heart rate during mental arithmetic.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 155 , Issue 1 , July 1989 , pp. 86 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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