Panic disorder

Panic disorder is marked by recurrent unexpected panic attacks and persistent worry about further attacks or their consequences. It can also lead to avoidance of situations associated with attacks.

Panic attack: A sudden surge of intense fear or discomfort accompanied by physical or cognitive symptoms. Unexpected attacks are the defining episodes that recur in panic disorder.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: A structured psychotherapy that changes unhelpful patterns of thinking and behavior. It targets catastrophic interpretations and avoidance that can maintain panic disorder.
Generalized anxiety disorder: A disorder involving excessive, difficult-to-control worry across multiple areas of life. Its central pattern is persistent broad worry, rather than recurrent unexpected panic attacks.
Anticipatory anxiety: Fear or worry about an event that may occur in the future. Worry about another attack can persist between episodes and become disabling.
Interoceptive conditioning: Learning in which bodily sensations become cues that predict or trigger fear. Sensations associated with earlier attacks can become feared signals of another attack.
Interoceptive exposure: A treatment technique that deliberately evokes feared bodily sensations in a safe, planned setting. Repeated practice can reduce fear of sensations associated with panic attacks.
Social anxiety disorder: A disorder involving fear of scrutiny or negative evaluation in social situations. Panic symptoms in social anxiety are typically tied to feared social evaluation.
Comorbidity: The presence of two or more disorders or health conditions in the same person. Panic disorder commonly appears alongside other anxiety, mood, or substance-use disorders.
Catastrophic misinterpretation: The interpretation of ambiguous bodily sensations as signs of imminent catastrophe. Believing ordinary sensations signal death or loss of control can amplify panic.
Exposure therapy: A behavioral treatment that gradually confronts feared situations or cues rather than avoiding them. It can address situational avoidance that develops around panic attacks.

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