The relationship between cognitions and panic attack intensity

Objective: To investigate the relationship between panic attack intensity, catastrophic belief and cognitions. Method: Data from 540 panic diaries were collected from 42 patients with pa nic disorder with agoraphobia. Results: When we controlled for individual variation, effects of treatment and number of symptoms, catastrophic belief contributed significantly to mo re intense panic attacks (r(2)change =0.10, P<0.0001). There were no signif icant differences in panic attack intensity between primary and secondary c ognitions. Conclusion: Our results indicate that catastrophic belief is a reliable pre dictor of panic attack intensity.