Symptom reporting and interoceptive attention in panic patients

The present study investigated whether bodily sensations reported by panic-disorder patients can be due to interoceptive attention. The attention of two groups, one of 16 panic patients and one of 17 normal control subjects was manipulated towards and away from bodily sensations. After each manipulation they had to report the sensations experienced. As expected, panic patients did report more sensations than controls in a baseline condition but against the hypothesis that a ceiling effect would occur in the panic group, both panic patients and controls reported more sensations after being instructed to attend to them. However, when their attention was diverted, panic patients showed a decrease in sensations greater than control subjects showed. The findings suggest that interoceptive attention may partly account for the sensations reported by panic patients.