DO PATIENTS WITH PANIC DISORDER SHOW A MEMORY BIAS

Background: Cognitive models of panic disorder are becoming more and m ore influential. Therefore, research specifying cognitive processes re lated to panic disorder is needed. The present study investigated memo ry bias for panic-related material in patients with panic disorder. Me thods: Memory bias for panic-related material was investigated experim entally by a memory task requiring classification of panic-related and non-panic-related words. Sixty patients with panic disorder and 60 co ntrols with no diagnosis of a mental disorder participated in the stud y. Results: As expected, panic patients showed smaller differences in the time needed for classification of panic-related versus non-panic-r elated material than controls. Conclusions: Patients with panic disord er show a memory bias for panic-related material when conceptual impli cit recall is required. In order to clarify whether this bias is invol ved in the maintenance of the disorder, it seems important to investig ate whether the bias is still present after successful therapy.