[The adaptive capacities of patients with panic disorders (a psychophysiological study)]

Contingent-negative deviation (CND) and orientational reaction (OR) were studied in 9 women suffering from typical (according to DSM-III-R) panic disorders (PD) and 12 healthy females. CND recording was made after giving neutral (70 dB, 1000 Hz) and stress (120 dB, 2000 Hz) pairs of sounds. Patients with PD were divided in two groups depending upon CND amplitudes. The first group (4 patients) was distinguished from healthy individuals by high CND amplitude (which significantly decreased after reaction on stress sound), by delay of extinction of cutaneogalvanic reaction (CGR) and by higher electromyogram amplitude. The second group (5 patients with more severe course of PD) was characterized by low amplitudes of CND and electromyogram, by absence of changes in CND after stress sound, by delay of extinction of CGR and nonspecific response. Above-mentioned data were evidence of psychophysiological heterogeneity of typical PD. The results were interpreted from a position of adaptive abilities of patients with PD, using ineffective and immature psychophysiological strategies of overcoming stress.