Panic Reactions Research Articles

Банковская паника в условиях цифровой трансформации общества: особенности возникновения и меры предотвращения

This article delves into the specifics of bank run emergence amidst society’s digital transformation, highlighting features such as rapid information transmission, increasing vulnerability risks of financial systems to new forms of fraud and cyber threats, utilization of artificial intelligence, and investments in payment systems and cryptocurrency. The banking system, as the main instrument of financial activity, is exposed to transformational changes, which necessitates its constant adaptation to new operating conditions, including to prevent uncontrolled panic reactions on the part of depositors, the consequences of which any financial organizations may face. The author proposes a few measures aimed at preventing or mitigating the consequences of bank runs in the financial sector, encompassing both urgent steps in the field of cybersecurity and risk management, as well as regulatory actions by the state and financial organizations. In general, the successful prevention of bank runs requires an integrated approach that includes information, technical and financial measures, as well as the development of an economic education system and an increase in financial literacy.

The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on mental health patient populations in the United States

During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, lockdowns and movement restrictions were thought to negatively impact population mental health, since depression and anxiety symptoms were frequently reported. This study investigates the effect of COVID-19 mitigation measures on mental health across the United States, at county and state levels using difference-in-differences analysis. It examines the effect on mental health facility usage and the prevalence of mental illnesses, drawing on large-scale medical claims data for mental health patients joined with publicly available state- and county-specific COVID-19 cases and lockdown information. For consistency, the main focus is on two types of social distancing policies, stay-at-home and school closure orders. Results show that lockdown has significantly and causally increased the usage of mental health facilities in regions with lockdowns in comparison to regions without such lockdowns. Particularly, resource usage increased by 18% in regions with a lockdown compared to 1% decline in regions without a lockdown. Also, female populations have been exposed to a larger lockdown effect on their mental health. Diagnosis of panic disorders and reaction to severe stress significantly increased by the lockdown. Mental health was more sensitive to lockdowns than to the presence of the pandemic itself. The effects of the lockdown increased over an extended time to the end of December 2020.

Alpha1- and Beta-norepinephrinergic receptors of dorsomedial and ventromedial hypothalamic nuclei modulate panic attack-like defensive behaviour elicited by diencephalic GABAergic neurotransmission disinhibition

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) disinhibition in medial hypothalamus (MH) nuclei of rats elicits some defensive reactions that are considered panic attack-like behaviours. Recent evidence showed that the norepinephrine-mediated system modulates fear-related defensive behaviours organised by MH neurons at least in part via noradrenergic receptors recruitment on midbrain tegmentum. However, it is unknown whether noradrenergic receptors of the MH also modulate the panic attack-like reactions. The aim of this work was to investigate the distribution of noradrenergic receptors in MH, and the effects of either α1-, α2- or β-noradrenergic receptors blockade in the MH on defensive behaviours elaborated by hypothalamic nuclei. Defensive behaviours were evaluated after the microinjection of the selective GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline into the MH that was preceded by microinjection of either WB4101, RX821002, propranolol (α1-, α2- and β-noradrenergic receptor selective antagonists, respectively), or physiological saline into the MH of male Wistar rats. The α1-, α2- and β-noradrenergic receptors were found in neuronal perikarya of all MH nuclei, and the α2-noradrenergic receptor were also found on glial cells mainly situated in the ventrolateral division of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. The α1- and β-noradrenergic receptors blockade in the MH decreased defensive attention and escape reactions elicited by the intra-MH microinjections of bicuculline. These findings suggest that, despite the profuse distributions of α1-, α2- and β-noradrenergic receptors in the MH, both α1- and β-noradrenergic receptor- rather than α2-noradrenergic receptor-signalling in MH are critical for the neuromodulation of panic-like behaviour.

The effectiveness of Russian import sanction on the international apple trade: Network theory approach

In August 2014, the Russian Federation imposed counter-sanctions against Western countries imposing restrictions against Russia following its aggression against Ukraine. It is worth examining to what extent the counter-sanctions have transformed the trade network between the countries. This study aims to show the impact of this embargo on apple import on the global trade network due to the Russian response to the Western countries’ measures in 2014. We chose the methodology of network research to examine the changes in trade networks. We analyzed the apple trade network because this was one of the significant fields impacted by the trade restrictions and panic reactions from EU producers imposed on the sanction. This research shows that Russian import was also impacted negatively, but some third countries are quickly becoming the winners of the restrictions. Serbia and Azerbaijan were the clear winners of the sanctions. The research results show that network research methodology is suitable for examining the sanctions’ effects.

Change in depression during the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare providers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased mental health problems among healthcare workers globally. However, studies from low- and middle-income countries on this matter were minimal. This study assessed the change in depression prevalence during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors among healthcare providers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We conducted surveys among healthcare workers in Addis Ababa at two-time points, September 2020 and October 2021. A total of 577 study participants were randomly selected based on registers obtained from professional associations. Computer-assisted telephone interviewing technique was used for data collection. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to screen for depression. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify potential factors associated with depression. The prevalence of depression among healthcare workers was 2.3% (95% CI [1.1-4.8]) in Time 1 and 6.5% (95% CI [4.1-10.1]) in Time 2; nearly a three-fold increase in Time 2 compared to Time 1. The most frequently reported symptoms at both times based on the PHQ-9 item were having poor energy, sleep problem, and anhedonia, while reported suicidal ideation was less than 5%. Depression showed a positive and significant association with a positive COVID-19 test result (AOR 7.25 95% CI [1.32-39.4]) in Time 1, and with being a female healthcare provider (AOR 3.96 95% CI [1.08-14.51]) and lack of COVID-19 related policy or guidelines at the workplace (AOR 3.22 95% CI [1.11-9.35]) in Time 2. The prevalence of depression among healthcare workers tripled during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Panic reaction to positive COVID-19 test result seems to have a negative effect at the beginning while lack of disease-specific prevention guidelines and comprehensive psychological interventions for healthcare providers had an adverse effect on the mental health of health workers.

Large scale simulation of pedestrian seismic evacuation including panic behavior

Understanding human behavior and predicting evacuation processes subsequently to an earthquake are critical aspects to provide valuable information to support disaster response activities. One possible and relevant aspect that characterizes human behavior in emergency situations is panic reactions, which can lead to dysfunctional and irrational responses by fugitives. Given the relevance of this component, this paper implements a panic behavior model in a large-scale agent-based model considering phenomenal parameters, such as seismic damage to the built environment, disruption of roads by earthquake-induced falling debris, and injuries of individuals. The proposed model is applied and tested in IdealCity, a virtual city simulation environment which resembles the geometry of the city of Turin, with about 900,000 inhabitants. The numerical simulations show that the inclusion of a panic behavior model increases the evacuation time despite the increased speed of agents during the evacuation process and this is probably caused by the fact that pedestrians tend to perform random actions before reaching their destination. Furthermore, existing human relationships between agents tend to convert the crowd from individual agents to group of agents that move together, and this behavior might affect the shelter saturation time of both shelters and hospitals as shown in the simulations analyzed in this paper.

Protective and compensatory childhood experiences and their impact on adult mental health.

Protective and compensatory childhood experiences and their impact on adult mental health.

Beyond Fear, Extinction, and Freezing: Strategies for Improving the Translational Value of Animal Conditioning Research.

Translational neuroscience for anxiety has had limited success despite great progress in understanding the neurobiology of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction. This chapter explores the idea that conditioning paradigms have had a modest impact on translation because studies in animals and humans are misaligned in important ways. For instance, animal conditioning studies typically use imminent threats to assess short-duration fear states with single behavioral measures (e.g., freezing), whereas human studies typically assess weaker or more prolonged anxiety states with physiological (e.g., skin conductance) and self-report measures. A path forward may be more animal research on conditioned anxiety phenomena measuring dynamic behavioral and physiological responses in more complex environments. Exploring transitions between defensive brain states during extinction, looming threats, and post-threat recovery may be particularly informative. If care is taken to align paradigms, threat levels, and measures, this strategy may reveal stable patterns of non-conscious defense in animals and humans that correlate better with conscious anxiety. This shift in focus is also warranted because anxiety is a bigger problem than fear, even in disorders defined by dysfunctional fear or panic reactions.

Improving the methodology for calculating fire risk at facilities with a mass stay of people

The purpose of this article is to study the existing methodology for calculating fire risk and identify factors that the methodology does not take into account, but their impact on the magnitude of fire risk is significant. It has been established that such a factor is the panic of people as a result of a reaction to external influences. The article contains the results of a study on the influence of the panic factor on the evacuation of people in the event of a fire. The object of the study was the Children's Creativity Center located in one of the district centers of the Republic of Mordovia. It is established that the panic reaction depends on the gender and age parameters of people. A comparative analysis of the results of calculations of the evacuation time without taking into account and taking into account the panic factor shows that it is unacceptable to neglect this factor. The results of the conducted studies provide grounds for making changes to the methodology of fire risk calculations in order to take into account the panic factor at the beginning of evacuation.

Time of COVID-19: stability analysis of stocks, exchange rates, minerals and metals markets

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shaken the global economy and significantly affected the financial markets. This anxiety triggered panic reactions. The article aims to explain impact of abrupt changes in structural stability of four key asset markets due to pandemic. It includes a detail discussion regarding structural change in co-movement of stock indices, exchange rates, minerals and metal returns. The daily returns of 14 financial indices across four groups during a span of 25 January 2019 to 3 February 2021 are sampled. The selection of financial assets is based on trading volume and velocity in each of the four groups. The results of Markov Switching model explain that pandemic not only increase volatility of financial markets but also have a significant long-term impact on structural behaviour in daily returns. The analysis further reveals differences in co-movement of financial returns during two periods. However, on a positive note, pandemic does make a way for few financial assets to dominate the market, especially ones recognised as ‘safe-haven’ assets.

Rodent Brain Pathology, Audiogenic Epilepsy.

The review presents data which provides evidence for the internal relationship between the stages of rodent audiogenic seizures and post-ictal catalepsy with the general pattern of animal reaction to the dangerous stimuli and/or situation. The wild run stage of audiogenic seizure fit could be regarded as an intense panic reaction, and this view found support in numerous experimental data. The phenomenon of audiogenic epilepsy probably attracted the attention of physiologists as rodents are extremely sensitive to dangerous sound stimuli. The seizure proneness in this group shares common physiological characteristics and depends on animal genotype. This concept could be the new platform for the study of epileptogenesis mechanisms.

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Migrant Labourers from Bihar in Hyderabad

The migration of labourers from the northern States of India to the southern States has become prominent practice for more than a decade. Workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand are employed in manufacturing and construction sectors, rice, sugar and ginning mills, and dairy industry all over Telangana, markedly in the Hyderabad city. Most of these are the sweatshop workers, who live in subhuman conditions. The sudden announcement of COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 had not only caught them by surprise but rendered them captive unemployed and fear-stricken at workplace. This created a panic reaction out of desperation to reach home once the lockdown was relaxed. The government was not in a position to provide migrant labourers protective social security due to sheer lack of data and mechanism to reach out to them. The lack of transport and curfew had brought them untold misery. It was the civil society that had undertaken the humanitarian task of making arrangements for their return journey. This paper seeks the first-hand information on the conditions of employment of migrant workers from Bihar and their return status after the declaration of lockdown.

Tonic Immobility is Associated with PTSD Symptoms in Traumatized Adolescents.

PurposeGrowing evidence suggests that peritraumatic tonic immobility, an involuntary defensive response that involves extreme physical immobility and the perceived inability to escape, is a significant predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. However, this issue has not been specifically addressed in adolescents. Here, we investigated whether tonic immobility response experienced during the worst childhood or adolescent trauma is associated with PTSD symptom severity in a non-clinical student sample.MethodsThe sample was composed of students in 9th grade who were attending public and private schools. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress and tonic immobility were assessed using questionnaires. We performed bivariate and multivariate negative binomial regressions to examine whether tonic immobility was associated with PTSD symptomatology after controlling for confounders (peritraumatic dissociation, peritraumatic panic reactions, gender, age and time since trauma).ResultsWe found an association between tonic immobility and PTSD symptom severity, even after controlling for confounders. Therefore, tonic immobility is associated with PTSD symptoms in trauma-exposed adolescents.ConclusionThese findings highlight tonic immobility as a possible risk factor that could be used to provide direction for more targeted trauma interventions for individuals, particularly those at risk for developing PTSD. Therefore, it contributes to preventing and reducing the psychiatric burden in adolescence and later in life.

Income gradient of pharmaceutical panic buying at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We analyze the timing, magnitude, and income dependence of pharmaceutical panic buying around the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Hungary. We use district‐level monthly and daily administrative data on detailed categories of pharmaceutical purchases, merge them to income statistics, and estimate multilevel panel models. Our main results are as follows. First, the days of therapy (DOT) of pharmaceutical purchases increased by more than 30% in March 2020, when major lockdown measures were announced. This pattern holds for almost all categories of pharmaceuticals. Second, shortly after the panic reactions, the aggregate amount of pharmaceutical purchases returned to their preshock levels; however, the frequency of pharmacy visits decreased. Third, the panic buying reaction was significantly stronger in richer geographical areas, where—according to the daily data—people also reacted earlier to the pandemic‐related news. Overall, the results suggest that panic buying of pharmaceuticals can have detrimental effects on vulnerable populations.

Pan(dem)ic reactions in Turkish stock market: evidence from share repurchases

Share repurchases have been widely used in global markets for years for various purposes such as to pay out cash, to stabilize stock prices, and so on. However, their use has recently been challenged due to the economic and financial uncertainty imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak. Not only governments have put bans or restrictions on the repurchasing transactions but also some major companies themselves have suspended their buyback programs to preserve cash. On the other hand, repurchase activity has manifested itself in Turkish capital markets somewhat unexpectedly under uncertain market conditions. This study is one of the first attempts to explore the impact of share repurchase transactions on stock returns in an emerging market severely hit by COVID-19. Our analyses reveal that market reaction to repurchase activity in the aftermath of the pandemic declaration of March 11, 2020 was significantly positive. Moreover, short-term stock performance of repurchasing firms was far greater than that of their non-repurchasing peers. These results have important policy implications in terms of corporate payout decisions which have recently been challenged by the new coronavirus.

Panic disorders as somatic and neurotic states of personality: conditioning, behavioural learning

Panic disorder is examined in the article as a clinical syndrome which sets a context to study relevance of basic principles of conditioning and learning to the questions of origin and development of psychopathologies. It is proven that panic attack is sudden experiencing of strong fear or discomfort accompanied by various somatic and psychical symptoms, for example, heart palpitation, stethalgia, feeling of breath shortage, dizziness, ideas about madness, loss of self-control or death. It is mentioned that experiencing of unexpected panic attacks however is not a sufficient criterion for establishment of panic disorder. Except listed above, an individual must feel substantial anxiety or deep concern about possibility of next attack and/or its consequences, for example, cardiac attack, madness or loss of (sels)control. Nowadays there are at least three main psychological theories related to the origin of panic disorder as a mental disorder. Two of them, cognitive theory and theory of anxiety sensitivity, mark cognitive aspects of the disorder, and historically earlier conditioning theory was yielded to various criticism. Taking into account earlier perspectives of panic disorder, our understanding of this phenomenon underlines the key role of early conditioning episodes in etiology of the disorder. Such perspective can be considered as a strength of learning theories, since it includes empirically verifiable explanation of etiology of panic disorder. Anxiety and panic are examined as separate states within panic disorder; anxiety is not simply weaker version of panic, and panic accordingly isn’t just stronger or more expressed version of anxiety. Anxiety prepares psyche of an individual to future trauma, while panic works (as a mean of mental defense) with a trauma that is being experienced here and now. Conditioned anxiety, caused by interoceptive and exteroceptive signals, serves for augmentation of future panic reactions. Thus anxiety becomes precursor of panic. It is summarized that therapeutic approaches that include extinction or counterconditioning of conditional stimuli which influence the disorder, will be the most successful.

Mass hysteria and incidence rate control in the organized groups (RUDN University approach)

The article presents the results of the comprehensive study of methods for countering mass panic and explosive morbidity in the organized community (on the example of a number of activities implemented at the RUDN University during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic). The authors used elements of theoretical and empirical, sociological and experimental methods of research. After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic of the new coronavirus in March 2020, the world will never be the same - most aspects of social interaction have changed, and the RUDN University could not stay away from global and all-Russian trends. In the article, the concept of dealing with stress and mass panic is considered not at the individual level, but at the level of the full-size medical institution with a multinational and multicultural community of 9000 people, completely isolated from the society. The authors managed to develop a model of doctors behavior, which proved to be effective when working with the younger generation (aged 18 to 35), including foreign students; provided an opportunity to control (to a certain limit) the mood of the masses on the entrusted territory, to ensure adherence to treatment and emotional support at all its stages. Due to the patients feeling of control over his condition, understanding of what is happening and, as a result, the development of critical perception of all information, the negative impact of the mass panic reaction was significantly reduced. Therefore, the authors achieved a disciplined organized community that followed all quarantine and isolation instructions, which significantly smoothed the peak of the incidence curve.

Do social media platforms develop consumer panic buying during the fear of Covid-19 pandemic

There is inadequate understanding of how social media can shape fear and consumer responses in the manner of consumer panic buying while Covid-19 is spreading across the world. Through taking a social constructionism position this research focused on what people think and feel at an individual and collective level on the role of social media to create panic behaviour. Data have been collected from thirty-four consumers who have minimum one active social media account. These participants are contacted through telephonic interview due to maintaining the social distancing. Findings reveal that uncertainties and insecurities proof, buying as persuasion, product unavailability proof, authorities' communication, global logic, and expert opinion are some of the causes on social media platforms that developed the situation of consumer panic buying during Covid-19 crises. Furthermore, the unprecedented level of real-time information on Covid-19 at users' fingertips can give them the tools they need to make smart decisions, but also make them more anxious about what is to come; experts say that may lead to panic buying or stockpiling of products. The study has tried to develop understanding about how social media generates social proof and offers a window into people's collective response to the coronavirus outbreak and shapes panic buying reaction. The study has provided a consumer panic buying theory based on the results of this study and on existing theories, such as global capitalism/information society risk society, social influence, and social proof. These theories help to understand how global logic is built due to the use of social media and how different social proofs are generated which developed the behaviour of consumer panic buying due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Psycho-social perspective of COVID-19 in Nepal

This ‘opinion article’ is based on World Health Organization (WHO) news and online publications along with the cases handled by the writer. It aims at overviewing psycho-social angle of collectivistic social structure of Nepal during the pandemic called COVID-19 caused by Coronavirus. Majority of Nepalese are dependent on agriculture, remaining on private or public services either in or out of the country. COVID-19 entered the world health threatening their existence, authority and leaving social system in halt. Coronavirus attacked breathing system and lungs claiming hundreds of thousand people’s lives around the world. No vaccine or medicine to combat it has been developed till date. Educational, professional and service organizations have been shut down leaving families isolated from friends and relatives. People are living with fear, denial, panic reactions, dissociation, depression, and socially distressed in ‘lockdown’ condition. It can damage trust in authority and socialization pattern as after-effect. Doctors, Politicians, educators, local government, social workers, psychologists and people themselves can reduce negative psycho-social effects occurring in future. Emotional management (situational awareness and acceptance), relationship management, meditation and relaxation exercises can contribute positively in reducing psychological problems of COVID-19.

FEATURES OF PANIC MANIFESTATIONS UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF QUARANTINE SELF-ISOLATION AND COVID-19 SPREADING

The article examines the peculiarities of people’s panic because of a prolonged extreme situation of uncertainty on the example of 2020 spring quarantine self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Excessive emotional reactions of the anxiety-phobic spectrum are a reflection, first of all, of a person’s internal state. And, most often, such reactions are associated with the compensation of other reasons causing the person’s overreactions to external triggers. In this case, panic arises because there is a combination of emotional factors and objective evidence that coronavirus (COVID-19) is a disease spread rapidly, so the infection can occur during short contact with the carrier. A large number of countries involved in the pandemic create the basis for panic reactions through the catastrophic idea that death is inevitable, because any person today is in the focus of infection. The study determined the intensity of positive and negative emotional states, characterized the peculiarities of experienced danger and helplessness during self-isolation, and analyzed the levels of trust in rumors and fake news regarding the likelihood of repeated quarantine in the future. The main manifestations of panic at the initial stage of its occurrence included deep changes in people’s emotional states, which contributed to excessive excitement of the psyche, the emergence of feelings of danger and helplessness, as well as uncritical perception by people of intensively circulated rumors. These manifestations preceded changes in people's behavior, which, obviously, was the embodiment of panic. The analyzed emotional reactions showed that 25% of the respondents had few positive emotions during quarantine self-isolation. During the quarantine period, from 75 to 99% of people believed that they were in a danger or retrospectively described it. The analysis also showed low levels of manifestations of such emotions as joy or relief. At the same time, the number of individuals who demonstrated highly negative emotions increased by the factor of 2–3. The number of respondents with the high degree of experiencing danger in a quarantine situation exceeds 65% of the sample, and the proportion of the respondents showing deep helplessness was more than 50%. The results also showed significant increase in the number of people who highly trusted in rumors and fake news and decreased number of people with low confidence in rumors about the threat of repeated self-isolation. The data obtained can become benchmarks for assessing the situation in settlements that are more prone to panic. In a prolonged extreme situation, in contrast to short-term panic, emotional stress increases gradually, which makes it possible to predict panic moods and apply timely measures preventing panic behavior among the population.