Tests of a Cognitive Theory of Panic

Abstract

Panic attacks are one of the most distressing of all forms of anxiety. The sudden onset of attacks and the intense bodily sensations which accompany them often lead patients to think they are about to die, go crazy, or suffer some other catastrophe. The fact that some attacks also appear to occur without warning is additionally alarming to patients and was initially interpreted by research workers as an indication that the central disorder in panic is a neurochemical disturbance. This point of view received further support from work on the pharmacological induction and treatment of panic. However, a number of investigators (Barlow, in press; Beck et al. 1985; Clark 1979, 1986; Griez and van den Hout 1984; Margraf et al. 1986; Rapee 1987, Seligman 1988) have recently proposed psychological theories which can also account for the main features of panic. In the present paper we provide a brief overview of one of the these theories — the cognitive theory described by Clark (1986) — and describe a series of experiments testing central predictions derived from this theory. Readers who would like a more detailed exposition of the theory are referred to Clark (1986, 1988) and Salkovskis (1988).