Daily life situations and anxiety in panic disorder and agoraphobia

Abstract

Naturally occuring daily life situations and anxiety experiences were studied in panic-disordered patients with different levels of agoraphobic fear. Time-sampled self-reports of mental state, social context, and setting, obtained with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), have been compared for panic patients with high scores on the agoraphobia scale of the Fear Questionnaire ( n = 19), panic patients with low to medium agoraphobia scores ( n = 23), and a normal reference group ( n = 20). Panic patients with high agoraphobia scores reported more anxiety than panic patients with limited agoraphobic fear. In general, agoraphobic subjects, as defined by the Fear Questionnaire, demonstrated higher frequencies of being at home and with the family. Panic patients with limited agoraphobic fear reported being alone more often when anxious, while patients with extensive agoraphobia were more often in the company of family members during moments of high anxiety. Individual variations in time-sampled anxiety ratings and time allocation data found in this study challenge the validity of retrospective reports about anxiety and avoidance. These results suggest that further research into anxiety disorders should link experimental and natural environment methods.