Panic attacks in the community: social morbidity and health care utilization

Article Abstract:

Panic attacks are recurrent episodes of intense fear, accompanied by physical symptoms, including difficulty breathing, palpitations, dizziness, feelings of unreality, and sweating. Fear of dying, becoming insane, or of being trapped almost always accompanies a panic attack. A random sample of 18,000 adults was surveyed to determine the prevalence of panic attacks and complications. Two hundred fifty-four people (1.5 percent) were diagnosed with panic disorder, and another 667 (3.6 percent) had panic attacks without meeting the criteria for panic disorder; 4,857 individuals (27 percent) had other psychiatric disorders, and the remaining subjects (68 percent) had no psychiatric disorders. There were definite differences among the groups according to sex, race, marital status, age, and social class. Those with panic disorder or panic attacks were most frequently married, lower middle and middle class, white, and female. Patients with panic disorder or panic attacks used emergency rooms, general medical care, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and antidepressants more frequently than those with other disorders. Those with panic attacks had poorer emotional and physical health, job functioning, and less financial independence than those with other disorders or no disorders. They were also more likely to suffer from major depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. When these patients are treated by physicians in emergency rooms or in general practice, attention should be given to establish the proper diagnosis and to make the appropriate treatment referral. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Complications and side effects, Panic disorder, Panic attacks

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Service utilization and social morbidity associated with depressive symptoms in the community

Article Abstract:

Individuals suffering from depressive symptoms may see as many doctors, use as many tranquilizers and antidepressants, and attempt suicide as often as those who have been diagnosed with depression. Mental health data on 18,571 adults in five US cities show that six percent met the criteria for major depression or chronic sadness, but 23.1% met the criteria for depressive symptoms, which is sometimes called subclinical depression. Individuals with subclinical depression made as many or more suicide attempts or visits to a doctor as individuals with depression. They were also just as likely to use tranquilizers, sleeping pills and antidepressants as those with depression. From an individual's point of view, depression places the individual at great risk. But individuals with subclinical depression are a greater burden on society.

Care and treatment

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Increasing rates of depression

Article Abstract:

Complaints of depression are increasing significantly, beginning at a younger age, occurring more frequently within families, and affecting women more than men in all categories. Young men, however, are reporting depression so frequently that the gender gap is narrowing. These trends are drawn from studies in the United States, Sweden, Germany, Canada and New Zealand. Comparable studies conducted in Korea, Puerto Rico and of Mexican-Americans living in the United States do not agree with these findings. The differences may have implications for understanding the causes of depression and for clinical practice.

Psychiatry, Longitudinal studies

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