Do Patients with Panic Disorder Show a Memory Bias?
- 13 March 1998
- journal article
- Published by S. Karger AG in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
- Vol. 67 (2) , 71-74
- https://doi.org/10.1159/000012262
Abstract
Background: Cognitive models of panic disorder are becoming more and more influential. Therefore, research specifying cognitive processes related to panic disorder is needed. The present study investigated memory bias for panic-related material in patients with panic disorder. Methods: Memory bias for panic-related material was investigated experimentally by a memory task requiring classification of panic-related and non-panic-related words. Sixty patients with panic disorder and 60 controls with no diagnosis of a mental disorder participated in the study. Results: As expected, panic patients showed smaller differences in the time needed for classification of panic-related versus non-panic-related material than controls. Conclusions: Patients with panic disorder show a memory bias for panic-related material when conceptual implicit recall is required. In order to clarify whether this bias is involved in the maintenance of the disorder, it seems important to investigate whether the bias is still present after successful therapy.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- Failure to replicate a memory bias in panic disorderJournal of Anxiety Disorders, 1994
- Memory bias in panic disorder.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1994
- Psychological treatment of panic: Work in progress on outcome, active ingredients, and follow-upBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1993
- Selective attention toward physical threat in patients with panic disorderJournal of Anxiety Disorders, 1992
- A cognitive approach to panicBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1986