Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1424-1427
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Life events and the onset of panic disorder
PP Roy-Byrne, M Geraci and TW Uhde
The authors examined the number, type, and effect of life events during the
year before the onset of panic attacks in 44 patients with a Research
Diagnostic Criteria diagnosis of panic disorder and 44 healthy control
subjects matched for age, sex, and time of retrospection. The patients had
significantly more life events, and these events had a more adverse impact
on them. Furthermore, the types of events experienced by the patients were
more typically distressing than those experienced by the control subjects.
The patients reported events involving moves to other neighborhoods and/or
cities far more frequently than did the control subjects.
