Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:13:04.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Value of the Fear Questionnaire in Differentiating Agoraphobia and Social Phobia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Brian J. Cox ,
Richard P. Swinson  and
Brian F. Shaw
Brian J. Cox*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3, and the Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry
Richard P. Swinson
Affiliation:
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Brian F. Shaw
Affiliation:
The Toronto Hospital, and Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Toronto
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study examined responses on the Fear Questionnaire (FQ) of 68 patients suffering panic disorder with agoraphobia, 50 social phobics, 75 subjects with ‘non-clinical’ panic attacks, and 188 non-panicking controls. The FQ agoraphobia and social subscales had satisfactory internal consistency and were accurate (82%) in correctly differentiating the patients. In general, the patient and control groups differed as expected. The highest level of social fear was reported by social phobics and the highest level of agoraphobic fear was reported by patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia. Five items from these two subscales significantly differentiated social phobia from panic disorder with agoraphobia. The results support the reliability and validity of the FQ.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue 6 , December 1991 , pp. 842 - 845
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Arrindell, W. A. (1989) The Fear Questionnaire. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 724–726.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arrindell, W. A., Emmelkamp, P. M. & van der Ende, J. (1984) Phobic dimensions: I. Reliability and generalizability across samples, gender and nations. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 6, 207–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballenger, J. C., Burrows, G. D., DuPont, P. L., et al (1988) Alprazolam in panic disorder and agoraphobia: results from a multicenter trial: efficacy in short-term treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 413–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cox, B. J. (1989) “Clinical and nonclinical manifestations of panic attacks: An empirical test of a panic-anxiety continuum model.” Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, York University, Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleming, B. & Faulk, A. (1989) Discriminating factors in panic disorder with and without agoraphobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 3, 209–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinney, P. J. & Williams, S. L. (1988) Accuracy of fear inventories and self-efficacy scales in predicting agoraphobic behavior. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 26, 513–518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mannuzza, S., Fyer, A. J., Liebowitz, M. R., et al (1990) Delineating the boundaries of social phobia: its relationship to panic disorder and agoraphobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 4, 41–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, I. M. & Mathews, A. M. (1979) Brief standard self-rating for phobic patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 263–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mavissakalian, M. (1986) The Fear Questionnaire: a validity study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 83–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norton, G. R., Harrison, B., Hauch, J., et al (1985). Characteristics of people with infrequent panic attacks. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94, 216–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norton, G. R., Dorward, J. & Cox, B. J. (1986) Factors associated with panic attacks in nonclinical subjects. Behavior Therapy, 17, 239–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oei, T. P. S., Gross, P. R. & Evans, L. (1989) Phobic disorders and anxiety states: how do they differ? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 23, 81–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L. & Williams, J. B. W. (1986) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–III–R Upjohn Version (SCID–UP–R). New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Biometrics Division.Google Scholar
Stein, M. B., Shea, C. A. & Uhde, T. W. (1989) Social phobic symptoms in patients with panic disorder: Practical and theoretical implications. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 235–238.Google ScholarPubMed
Zurren, F. J. (1988) The Fear Questionnaire: some data on validity, reliability and layout. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 659–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zurren, F. J. (1989) The Fear Questionnaire. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 726–727.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.