Panic Disorder

Question 1

What kind of emotions accompany a panic attack?

Answer 1

A sense of imminent danger/impending doom and an urge to escape.

Question 2

What are the somatic symptoms of a panic attack?

Answer 2

Palpitations, dizziness, feeling of choking, dry mouth, derealisation, numbness/tingling (parathesis), chills or hot flushes

Question 3

What are the cognitive symptoms of a panic attack?

Answer 3

Fear of dying/suffocating/losing control and going crazy

Question 4

When can panic attacks occur?

Answer 4

Situationally
Spontaneously
Nocturnally
In other anxiety disorders

Question 5

When can panic DISORDER be diagnosed?

Answer 5

When panic attacks occur recurrently and sometimes unexpectedly (i.e. not always in a phobic situation).
When the main fear is of having a panic attack

Question 6

What is often co-morbid with panic disorder (and can therefore be diagnosed as panic disorder with/without…)?

Answer 6

Agoraphobia

Question 7

How many possible somatic and cognitive symptoms of panic attacks are there and how many are necessary of a diagnosis?

Answer 7

4/13

Question 8

What are the prevalence rates of panic disorder?

Answer 8

Up to 28% of the population will have a panic attack

3-5% go on to develop panic disorder

Question 9

What mediates whether a first panic attack leads to panic disorder?

Answer 9

The tendency to catastrophically interpret the first experience.
Family history or responses of others to panic attacks.

Question 10

Who’s is the model of panic?

Answer 10

Clark (1986) modified by Wells (1997)

Question 11

Outline Clark’s model of panic (1986).

Answer 11

A certain situation triggers a panic attack
This leads to a catastrophic misinterpretation of the bodily sensations
The sensations are usually those involved in anxiety responses

Question 12

What are useful assessment questions for panic disorder?

Answer 12

If you had not done (safety behaviour) what is the worst thing that could have happened?
What’s so bad about that?
What would it mean to you if that had happened?

Question 13

What must you check in panic disorder?

Answer 13

Organic factors.

Question 14

What are the possible organic factors in panic disorder?

Answer 14

Coffee or amphetamine or hypothyrodism

Question 15

What are the maintaining factors in Clark and Wells’ (1997) model of panic?

Answer 15

Selective attention to bodily cues

Subtle forms of avoidance and safety behaviours

Question 16

What is a particular difficulty in Panic Disorder?

Answer 16

Getting the client to recognise behaviours as safety behaviours.