Panic disorder: A product of classical conditioning

doi:10.1016/0005-7967(88)90138-6

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Volume 26, Issue 6, 1988, Pages 441-450

https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(88)90138-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

Contrary to the common view that all panic attacks have a single etiology, it is shown that a distinction must be made between initial attacks, for which there are many causes, and recurrent attacks (panic disorder) which have a common basis. Most initial panic attacks are attributable to the physiological effects of hyperventilation resulting from severe and prolonged anxiety. It has been claimed that the attacks are due to such symptoms as dyspnea, tachycardia and dizziness being misattributed to deadly illness or incipient insanity. We reject this view on several grounds, and in particular because of a pilot study that showed that such attributions follow the onset of panic. Apart from some biological cases, the common initial panic is an unconditioned response to a bizarre stimulus complex produced by excessive hyperventilation, and panic disorder is the result of contiguous stimuli, especially endogenous stimuli, being conditioned to the elicited anxiety. Treatment accords with principles of conditioning.

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Citation Excerpt :
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Invited essayPanic disorder: A product of classical conditioning

Abstract

Behav. Res. Ther.

J. Behav. Ther. exp. Psychiat.

Behav. Res. Ther.

Behav. Res. Ther.

Behav. Ther.

J. Anxiety Disord.

J. R. Soc. Med.

N. Engl. J. Med.

Int. J. Med.

Br. J. Psychol.

J. Behav. Ther. exp. Psychiat.

Arch. gen. Psychiat.

Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Clinical treatment of agoraphobia

Night panic

Panic Disorder and Mitral Valve Prolapse

Panic disorder precipitated by exposure to organic solvents in the work place

Am. J. Psychiat.

Major results of a large scale pretreatment survey of agoraphobics

Types of stressful life event and the onset of anxiety and depressive disorders

Psychol. Med.

On the manifestation of conditioned defensive reactions in stress

Bull. Soc. Sci. Lett. Lodz. Class III. Sci. Math. Nat.

Treatment of panic disorder with imipramine alone

Am. J. Psychiat.

Mitral valve prolapse and panic disorders: Effect of Imipramine

A single case study: treatment of phobophobia by exposure to CO2 induced anxiety symptoms

J. Nerv. men. Dis.

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine

Invited essay
Panic disorder: A product of classical conditioning

A single case study: treatment of phobophobia by exposure to CO₂ induced anxiety symptoms