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Accurate heartbeat perception in panic disorder: fact and artefact
A J Van der Does1, R Van Dyck, P Spinhoven
1Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Journal of Affective Disorders
|April 1, 1997
Summary
Patients with panic disorder may accurately perceive heartbeats, but this is not solely due to arousal. Some accurate perception is linked to panic-related cognitions, while other cases are influenced by arousal.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Cardiology
Background:
- Accurate perception of heartbeats is often considered a symptom of panic disorder.
- The role of physiological arousal versus cognitive factors in this perception remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether accurate heartbeat perception in panic disorder is an artifact of arousal.
- To differentiate between accurate and inaccurate heartbeat perception in panic disorder patients.
Main Methods:
- Compared heartbeat perception accuracy in patients with panic disorder, mood disorders, and normal controls.
- Utilized questionnaires to assess panic-related cognitions and arousal levels.
Main Results:
- Panic disorder patients showed higher accuracy in perceiving heartbeats compared to mood disorder patients and controls.
- Accurate perceivers reported higher scores on panic-related cognitive measures.
- Inaccurate perceivers' estimations were linked to arousal, not cognitive factors or actual heart rate.
Conclusions:
- Accurate heartbeat perception in panic disorder is a complex phenomenon, partly factual and partly artifactual.
- A subset of panic disorder patients demonstrates accurate heartbeat perception, potentially linked to cognitive factors.
- For the majority of patients, inaccurate perception is associated with physiological arousal.