Related Experiment Videos
Heightened embarrassability discriminates between panic disorder patients with and without agoraphobia
H Swoboda1, U Demal, M Krautgartner
1Department of Psychiatry, Section of Social Psychiatry and Evaluative Research, University Hospital, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria. hemma.swoboda@univie.ac.at
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
|February 20, 2004
Summary
Panic disorder with agoraphobia patients exhibit higher embarrassability and fear of negative evaluation than those without agoraphobia. These traits are more pronounced in women, suggesting a link to the disorder.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Embarrassability, the tendency to feel embarrassed, correlates with fear of negative evaluation.
- Panic disorder (PD) is a condition characterized by sudden, intense fear.
- Agoraphobia, often co-occurring with PD, involves fear of situations where escape may be difficult.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate differences in embarrassability and fear of negative evaluation between panic disorder patients with and without agoraphobia.
- To compare these traits in clinical groups versus healthy controls.
- To examine gender differences in these characteristics.
Main Methods:
- 100 patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD-A), 30 with uncomplicated panic disorder (PD-U), and 80 controls were assessed.
- Participants completed the Embarrassability Scale and the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale.
- Depressive mood was measured using the Beck Depression Inventory.
Main Results:
- PD-A patients scored significantly higher on both embarrassability and fear of negative evaluation compared to PD-U patients and controls.
- Women generally reported higher embarrassability scores than men.
- Severity of phobic avoidance correlated with higher scores on both scales.
Conclusions:
- Heightened embarrassability is a key characteristic of panic disorder with agoraphobia.
- Fear of negative evaluation and embarrassability may play a role in the development or maintenance of PD-A.
- Further research is warranted to explore the clinical implications of these findings.