A CURRENT PSYCHODYNAMIC UNDERSTANDING OF PANIC DISORDER

While there has been burgeoning interest in the psychiatric literature about the phenomenology and biology of panic disorder, there is littl e new information about the psychodynamics of this condition. The rein troduction of a psychodynamic perspective could be useful in guiding r esearch strategies to identify traits which predispose to panic and in designing treatments to address such traits. A psychodynamic model hy pothesizes a relationship between current psychological functioning, e arly experiences, and ongoing psychological traits. Recent published r eports about the nature of underlying psychodynamics and psychological characteristics of panic disorder ate discussed.