March 1, 1988American Journal of Psychiatry236 citations
View Full PaperDepression and panic attacks: the significance of overlap as reflected in follow-up and family study data
Key Points
- The research examines how panic attacks overlap with depressive episodes and their implications for recovery.
- Follow-up of 91 patients with panic attacks during depressive episodes over two years.
- Family study comparing a control group of 417 depressed patients without panic attacks.
- Analysis of relatives' psychiatric profiles in relation to panic disorder patients.
- Patients with panic attacks had more severe depressive symptoms and lower recovery rates after two years.
- Relatives of panic disorder patients were less likely to have primary depression but more likely to have anxiety disorders.
- Findings support a hierarchical diagnostic distinction between panic disorder and major depression.
Abstract
Ninety-one patients with panic attacks limited historically to depressive episodes had more severe depressive symptoms and were less likely to recover during a 2-year follow-up than 417 depressed patients who did not have panic attacks. Family study data clearly distinguished another 15 patients with panic disorder and secondary depression; interviewed relatives of panic disorder patients were significantly less likely to have primary depression and significantly more likely to have various anxiety disorders. These data support the hierarchical system by which many of the contemporary diagnostic systems separate panic disorder and major depression.