Evaluation of perseveration in relation to panic-relevant responding: an initial test

Perseveration reflects the tendency to engage in a behavior even when it is no longer rewarding nor produces the expected consequences.

The current study explored whether (1) individuals endorsing a recent (past 2 years) history of nonclinical panic attacks would report greater levels of perseveration compared to individuals without such a history; (2) whether individuals endorsing higher levels of perseveration would evidence greater panic-relevant responding to a 4-minute 10% carbon dioxide-enriched air challenge.

Results indicated that individuals with, compared to without, a positive panic attack history endorsed significantly greater levels of perseveration. Additionally, greater pre-challenge levels of perseveration significantly predicted greater panic attack symptom severity as well as self-reported anxiety; these significant effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by sex, trait-level negative affectivity, panic attack status, and distress tolerance as well as shared variance with the related constructs of persistence and perfectionism.

Together, the current findings provide initial, albeit preliminary, support for the utility of investigating perseveration in relation to models of panic psychopathology specifically, and offer a further empirical context for perseveration-psychopathology relations in general.