Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:630-632
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Childhood and family characteristics in panic and generalized anxiety disorders
S Torgersen
The author compared 32 patients who had generalized anxiety disorders with
29 patients who had panic disorder and agoraphobia with panic attacks. He
observed that patients with generalized anxiety disorder more often had
lost their fathers and/or mothers before the age of 16 years, whereas
patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia with panic attacks had more
often experienced chronic anxiety in childhood. More parents and siblings
of patients with panic disorder had affective disorders and alcohol abuse
than did parents and siblings of patients with anxiety disorders.
