Panic Attacks

Objective

To determine the frequency and range of neurological manifestations of phaeochromocytomas and secretory paragangliomas.

Methods

A retrospective review of case notes of patients admitted to Auckland Hospital from 1985 to 2011 with a discharge diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma or secretory paraganglioma.

Results

Ninety-three patients were admitted with a phaeochromocytoma or secretory paraganglioma. Sixty-eight patients (73%) h

Web-Based Treatment Program Using Intensive Therapeutic Contact for Patients With Eating Disorders: Before-After Study|Background: Although eating disorders are common in the Netherlands, only a few patients are treated by mental health care professionals. To reach and treat more patients with eating disorders, Tactus Addiction Treatment developed a web-based treatment program with asynchronous and intensive personalized communication between the patient and the therapist. Objective: This pilot study evalu

Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated individual associations between borderline personality disorder (BPD), panic attacks (PAs), and panic disorder (PD) in relation to suicide attempts (SAs). This study examined the comorbid effects of these variab

Abstract: Panic attacks have been reported by patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in response to catastrophic worry. This has not been characterized in the literature. We examined the prevalence of GAD panic attacks in an anxiety disorders clinic s

We investigated whether positive mental health predicts all-cause mortality.|Data were from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study (n = 3032), which at baseline in 1995 measured positive mental health (flourishing and not) and past-year mental illness (major depressive episode, panic attacks, and generalized anxiety disorders), and linked respondents with National Death Index records in a 10-year follow-up ending in 2005. Covariates were age, gender, race, education, any past-year mental illness, smoking, physical inactivity, physical diseases, and physical disease risk factors.|A total of 6.3% of participants died during the study period. The final and fully adjusted odds ratio of mortality was 1.62 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00, 2.62; P =.05) for adults who were not flourishing, relative to participants with flourishing mental health. Age, gender, race, education, smoking, physical inactivity, cardiovascular disease, and HIV/AIDS were significant predictors of

Panic attacks and anticipatory anxiety are considered to be inter-correlated, yet distinctive, features of panic disorder, both contributing to its onset and maintenance as well as to the associated impairment. Given the difficulty to yield ecologically valid data on these fluctuating symptoms the natural course of anticipatory anxiety and its correlates have seldom been addressed with adequate methods.|The current study aimed at further exploring the natural variance of anticipatory anxiety and its interdependence with panic-related variables. In addition, impact of anxiety sensitivity, and perceived ability to cope with panic on the relation between panic attacks and subsequent anxiety was inspected. Method: Based on an Ecological Momentary Assessment approach, 21 patients with panic disorder rated study variables continuously over one week; 549 question sets were completed.|Anticipatory anxiety followed a diurnal pattern and was associated with situational and internal variables

This article describes the common causes of recurrent vertigo and dizziness that can be diagnosed largely on the basis of history.|Ninety percent of spontaneous recurrent vertigo and dizziness can be explained by six disorders: (1) Mnire disease is characterized by vertigo attacks, lasting 20 minutes to several hours, with concomitant hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. Aural symptoms become permanent during the course of the disease. (2) Attacks of vestibular migraine may last anywhere from minutes to days. Most patients have a previous history of migraine headaches, and many experience migraine symptoms during the attack. (3) Vertebrobasilar TIAs affect older adults with vascular risk factors. Most attacks last less than 1 hour and are accompanied by other symptoms from the posterior circulation territory. (4) Vestibular paroxysmia is caused by vascular compression of the eighth cranial nerve. It manifests itself with brief attacks of vertigo that recur many times per day

The learning perspective of panic disorder distinguishes between acute panic and anxious apprehension as distinct emotional states. Following animal models, these clinical entities reflect different stages of defensive reactivity depending upon the imminence of interoceptive or exteroceptive threat cues. The current study tested this model by investigating the dynamics of defensive reactivity in a large group of patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia (PD/AG).|Three hundred forty-five PD/AG patients participated in a standardized behavioral avoidance test (being entrapped in a small, dark chamber for 10 minutes). Defense reactivity was assessed measuring avoidance and escape behavior, self-reports of anxiety and panic symptoms, autonomic arousal (heart rate and skin conductance), and potentiation of the startle reflex before and during exposure of the behavioral avoidance test.|Panic disorder and agoraphobia patients differed substantially in their defensive reactivity. While 31.6

Abuse of the psychoactive "designer drug" methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) has become a serious international public health concern because of the severity of its physical and behavioral toxicities. MDPV is the primary ingredient in so-called "bath salts," labeled as such to avoid criminal prosecution and has only been classified recently as a controlled substance in the United States and some other countries. However, it remains a danger because of illegal sources, including the Internet. MDPV is a synthetic, cathinone-derivative, central nervous system stimulant and is taken to produce a cocaine- or methamphetamine-like high. Administered via oral ingestion, nasal insufflation, smoking, intravenous or intramuscular methods, or the rectum, the intoxication lasts 6 to 8 hours and has high addictive potential. Overdoses are characterized by profound toxicities, causing increased attention by emergency department and law enforcement personnel. Physical manifestations range from

Reviews the evidence for and against hundreds of preventive health services, recommending tests, and counseling interventions when evidence exists that it is effective.

Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with panic disorder.

Clinical practice guideline for treatment of patients with anxiety disorders in primary care.