Fear and Depression in Patients with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

This study compares a group of 75 patients presenting panic disorder with agoraphobia according to DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria with a group of 75 normal subjects (15 men, 60 women) on the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS-II) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results showed a correlation between the fear scores and depression scores. Patients with a panic disorder with agoraphobia diagnosis reported anxiety and depression levels that were higher than those reported by the normal subjects. The discussion concerns the correlations obtained from the two populations for both questionnaires, the relationships between panic disorder, phobias and depression, the methodological limits of this study and future perspectives for correlational and descriptive studies.