THE SYMPTOM STRUCTURE OF PANIC DISORDER - A TRIAL USING FACTOR AND CLUSTER-ANALYSIS

Using cluster analysis of 207 patients with panic disorder (PD): we in vestigated the relationships between several panic symptoms at the tim e of panic attacks, which included anticipatory anxiety, agoraphobia, and 13 clinical symptoms based on the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual -III-Revised. Cluster analysis revealed three panic symptom clusters: cluster A (dyspnea, choking, sweating, nausea, flushes/chills); cluste r B (dizziness, palpitations, trembling or shaking, depersonalization, agoraphobia, and anticipatory anxiety); and cluster C (fear of dying, fear of going crazy, paresthesias, and chest pain or discomfort). Gen erally, cluster A was comprised exclusively of physiological symptoms, among which respiratory symptoms were prominent, cluster B included b oth panic and non-panic symptoms such as agoraphobia and anticipatory anxiety, and cluster C was comprised chiefly of fear symptoms.