Phobic anxiety and panic anxiety: How do they differ?

Acute anxiety symptoms reported by 20 patients with simple phobia and 20 patients with panic disorder were compared. Panic anxiety symptomatology was commonly rated as more severe in its intensity than that reported by the simple phobics. The pattern of symptoms experienced by the two diagnostic groups shared only 30% of the variance in symptom rankings. These results suggest that there are both quantitative and qualitative differences between phobic and panic anxiety, and have a bearing on recent diagnostic and etiological formulations of the anxiety disorders.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26865/1/0000430.pd