Although panic disorder has been ranked as an ‘anxiety disorder', its close relationship to depression has been suggested in pharmacological and clinical studies. Validation of this hypothesis of similarity between panic and depression requires that their common psychological characteristics be clearly evidenced, especially from the cognitive/emotional standpoint. We assessed 13 depressive themes from Beck's Cognition Checklist, to explore negative automatic thoughts in three groups of patients defined, according to DSM III-R criteria, as: major depression (n = 16), panic disorder (n = 19), social phobia (n = 11). We found a strong similarity in the ordering and regrouping of the depressive themes, between depressive and panic disorder patients, and no similarity with social phobics. These results suggest that panic disorder cognitions may be closer to depressive cognition than social phobia cognition.
