OPPOSITE ASYMMETRIES IN BLIND LOCOMOTOR ORIENTATION OF PATIENTS WITH PANIC AGORAPHOBIA COMPARED TO THOSE WITH GENERALIZED ANXIETY

Panic agoraphobic subjects constantly struggle with the accurate regis tration of everyday space-time dimension. They are hindered in the exp loration of their surroundings by constant self-directed attention. In our investigations we examined whether during experimental goal-direc ted locomotion orientation insecurity would appear. The accuracy of ta rget-directed motion, i.e. the degree of lateral deviation, was record ed in three diagnostic groups, panic agoraphobics (15 subjects), gener alized anxiety patients (15 subjects), and normal controls (15 subject s). According to our results the approach vector of the panic agorapho bics deviated to the right, while in the case of generalized anxiety p atients it deviated to the left, while normal controls did not deviate significantly from the middle line. Results are compatible with previ ous literature which associated panic with an overactivity of left-sid ed functions, and generalised anxiety with an overactivity of right-si ded functions.