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Clinical features of panic attacks in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

F.J. Baylé*
Affiliation:
University of Paris V and Service Hospitalo-Universitaire de Santé Mentale et de Thérapeutique, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, 75674Paris cedex, France
M.O. Krebs
Affiliation:
University of Paris V and Service Hospitalo-Universitaire de Santé Mentale et de Thérapeutique, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, 75674Paris cedex, France
C. Epelbaum
Affiliation:
Psychiatry department, Hopital de Bicêtre, 78 rue du Général Leclerc, 94275Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Cedex, France
D. Levy
Affiliation:
University of Paris V and Service Hospitalo-Universitaire de Santé Mentale et de Thérapeutique, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, 75674Paris cedex, France
P. Hardy
Affiliation:
Psychiatry department, Hopital de Bicêtre, 78 rue du Général Leclerc, 94275Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Cedex, France
*
* Correspondence and reprints.
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Summary

Since reports have underscored that panic attacks (PA) may be an identifiable state occurring in schizophrenia, we studied the symptomatology of PA in a group of schizophrenic patients. Of 40 patients (21 males and 19 females) attending a clinic for maintenance therapy of schizophrenia, 19 (36.8%) had a lifetime history of PA. Seven among those 19 patients (36.8%) had or had had spontaneous panic attacks, not related to phobic fears or delusional fears, and for the 12 remaining patients, the PA were related to paranoid ideas. Moreover, the paranoid subtype of schizophrenia tends to be more often associated with a history of panic attack than other subtypes of schizophrenia (52.6% vs 23.8%; χ2 = 3.5, P = .06). It seems that there are at least two types of PA in schizophrenic patients. The first one could be independent from the psychotic feature, with no psychopathological link. The second kind of PA could be directly related to a schizophrenic disorder, and found in patients with the paranoid subtype.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved

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