Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149:827-828
Copyright © 1992 by American Psychiatric Association
Onset of panic disorder
C Faravelli, S Pallanti, F Biondi, S Paterniti and MA Scarpato
Institute for Neurosciences, Policlinico Careggi, Florence, Italy.
The situations in which the first panic attack occurred were investigated
in 44 patients affected by panic disorder. Although the first panic attack
was reported to be unexpected and no avoidance was present before it, 75.8%
of patients (N = 22) with panic disorder with agoraphobia had their first
panic attack in phobogenic situations, compared with 20% of patients (N =
3) with panic disorder without agoraphobia.