The phenomenology of the first panic attack in clinical and community-based samples

Christiane A Pané-Farré; Jan P Stender; Kristin Fenske; Jürgen Deckert; Andreas Reif; Ulrich John; Carsten Oliver Schmidt; Andrea Schulz; Thomas Lang; Georg W Alpers; Tilo Kircher; Anna N Vossbeck-Elsebusch; Hans J Grabe; Alfons O Hamm

doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.05.009

The phenomenology of the first panic attack in clinical and community-based samples

J Anxiety Disord. 2014 Aug;28(6):522-9. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.05.009. Epub 2014 Jun 2.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: christiane.pane-farre@uni-greifswald.de.
² Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
⁷ Christoph-Dornier-Stiftung for Clinical Psychology, Institute Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
⁸ Department of Clinical and Biological Psychology, School of Social Sciences and Otto-Selz-Institute, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany; HELIOS Hospital Stralsund, Stralsund, Germany.

PMID: 24973697
DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.05.009

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to contrast first panic attacks (PAs) of patients with panic disorder (PD) with vs. without agoraphobia and to explore differences between first PAs leading to the development of PD and those that remain isolated. Data were drawn from a community survey (N=2259 including 88 isolated PAs and 75 PD cases). An additional sample of 234 PD patients was recruited in a clinical setting. A standardized interview assessed the symptoms of the first PA, context of its occurrence and subsequent coping attempts. Persons who developed PD reported more severe first PAs, more medical service utilization and exposure-limiting coping attempts than those with isolated PAs. The context of the first PA did not differ between PD and isolated PAs. PD with agoraphobia was specifically associated with greater symptom severity and occurrence of first attacks in public. Future research should validate these findings using a longitudinal approach.

Keywords: Agoraphobia; Context; Coping; First panic attack; Panic attack; Panic disorder; Symptoms.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Age of Onset
Aged
Agoraphobia / diagnosis
Agoraphobia / etiology*
Agoraphobia / psychology
Disease Progression
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Multicenter Studies as Topic
Panic Disorder / diagnosis
Panic Disorder / psychology*
Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology
Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Young Adult