PANIC DISORDER - AN OVERLAPPING OR INDEPENDENT ENTITY

We compared three groups of patients with panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and major depressive episode with a control group. Me thods of comparison included a clinical profile of the patients, asses sed by the Arabic version of the Present State Examination (PSE), a ps ychological battery of tests measuring personality traits and depressi ve and anxiety states, and the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) as a biological marker. Our data showed that psychological assessment an d DST did not significantly differentiate between the three disorders. Despite a symptom overlap between the disorders, however, some sympto ms were associated significantly more often with one disorder than ano ther. Patients with panic disorder differed from patients with major d epressive episode in showing more situational, avoidance and free floa ting anxiety, and more anxious foreboding. They showed less self-negli gence, ideas of guilt, early awakening and social withdrawal. Compared with patients with generalised anxiety disorder, patients with panic disorder showed more loss of interest and muscle tension and less anxi ous foreboding, restlessness, inefficient thinking, social withdrawal and delayed sleep. Our conclusion is that the clinical course and the symptom profile of panic disorder justifies its existence as an indepe ndent diagnostic category.