CARDIOVASCULAR, NEUROENDOCRINE, AND MONOAMINERGIC RESPONSES TO PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESSORS - POSSIBLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REMITTED PANIC DISORDER PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Both clinical symptomatology and stress research suggest that panic at tacks might be partially attributable to exaggerated psychophysiologic al responses to environmental stressors. In the present study, We aime d to explicitly test this idea by measuring the physiological response s to a mild psychological stressor in both healthy controls (n = 8) an d fully remitted, medication-free panic disorder patients (n = 8). One hour before the stressor, former patients, compared to healthy contro ls, exhibited higher diastolic blood pressure. From a blood sample tak en 30 min before the stressor, patients, compared to controls, had low er paroxetine platelet binding site densities. During the stressor, pa tients, compared to controls, had greater increases in plasma levels o f cortisol. These preliminary findings suggest that remitted panic dis order patients might have disturbed physiological responses to mild ps ychological stressors. These disturbances might be related to the deve lopment of future episodes.