[Psychoimmunologic correlation between allergies, panic and agoraphobia]

The present behavioral medical paper is a contribution to basic research in neuroimmunology. The relationship of panic/agoraphobia and allergy/anaphylaxis (IgE-mediated immediate reaction) is demonstrated and discussed with specific consideration of vasomotor reactions, tachycardia and hyperventilation in panic patients and allergies with anaphylactic reactions. The vegetative symptoms of panic reactions and anaphylaxis showed a high correlative correspondence. 74% of 23 panic and/or agoraphobia patients in a pretest to an epidemiologic study turned out to have an allergic illness that needed treatment; but there were no more anxiety disorders disclosed in 50 allergic patients than in the general population according to expectancies found in epidemiologic publications. If these data are confirmed then panic and agoraphobia cannot be seen as merely a cognitive-emotional event, but also as a further kind of allergic disease with genetic, ecological, psychological and social determinants; they would then have to be diagnosed as psychoimmunological disturbances and treated with behavior medicine (preferably with exposition and immunotherapy or hyposensitization). Anxiety therapies would improve qualitatively and could be cut down in duration.