RESEARCH ON PANIC DISORDER AND AGORAPHOBIA IN DAILY-LIFE - A REVIEW OF CURRENT STUDIES

In recent years, an increasing number of studies about panic disorder and agorphobia have been conducted in the natural environment. Event s ampling, time sampling, and continuous ambulatory monitoring technique s have been used to describe psychophysiological, cognitive, and behav ioral responses associated with panic and agoraphobia. Daily life stud ies highlight the variability in responses associated with panic and a goraphobia, and thus provide clear phenomenological descriptions of da ily life experiences with high levels of individual, situational, and temporal detail. The present overview may help researchers to select a technique that is optimally suited to address specific questions abou t daily fife experiences. Diagnostic and therapeutic implications of a ssessments in the natural environment are discussed.