THE EXPERIMENTAL INDUCTION OF DEPERSONALIZATION AND DEREALIZATION IN PANIC DISORDER AND NONANXIOUS SUBJECTS

The present study evaluated the efficacy of three tasks in inducing de personalization (DP) and derealization (DR) in three different groups: (a) panic disorder patients who report these symptoms while panicking (PD + DD; n = 10); (b) panic disorder patients never experiencing the se symptoms during panic attacks (PD; n = 10); and (c) nonanxious cont rols (NC; n = 10). Clinical features of the PD + DD and PD Ss were com pared as well. Relative to PD Ss, PD + DD Ss evidenced higher levels o f depression, trait anxiety, more fear of panic, and had a briefer dur ation of their disorder. A substantial proportion of NC Ss reported pa st DP and DR experiences. DP and DR induction procedures were the foll owing: staring at a dot on the wall, staring in a mirror, and silent r epetition of one's name. Results indicated two tasks (mirror and dot) successfully elicited these sensations above baseline levels with DP r eported more frequently and intensely than DR for all Ss. The PD + DD Ss evidenced greater baseline-to-task increases in DP and DR relative to the other two groups and exhibited a differential fear response, pa rticularly on the dot task, with 30% of these Ss intentionally distrac ting themselves or terminating the induction.