PANIC ANXIETY - A NEW BIOLOGICAL MODEL

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • review article
    • Vol. 45  (8) , 323-330
Abstract
Previously unrecognized similarities among metabolic responses to various maneuvers used to evoke anxiety in patients with panic disorder are described. On the basis of these observations, a new biological model is proposed for panic disorder, in which the primary defect.sbd.which is neuroendocrine rather than psychiatric.sbd.is operationally placed within the redox-regulating apparatus of the brain stem. This model is consistent with many clinical features of panic disorder and also provides a theoretical framework for further studies of the pathophysiology of this and related conditions (hyperventilation syndromes).