An Experimental Study to Operationally Define and Measure Spatial Orientation in Panic Agoraphobic Subjects, Generalized Anxiety and Healthy Control Groups

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In an experimental study with panic agoraphobic patients, generalized anxiety patients and normals we operationally defined and measured spatial orientation of the three research groups. The observation, that patients suffering from agoraphobia have a very narrow exploratory activity range, is as important from the point of view of therapy as theory. Our study observed panic agoraphobic patients through their exploratory abilities. We examine panic agoraphobic, generalized anxiety and normal subjects, as they utilized their exploration skills in a complicated maze. We determined that the cognitive maps drawn by the panic agoraphobic patients are inaccurate. They got lost more often and utilized far fewer navigation points during their walk in the maze, compared to the generalized anxiety or normal subjects. The frame of the conceptualization was based on personal attentional strategies, spatial orientation deficit, and exploratory activity abnormalities.