Stressful life events and panic disorder: Relationship with the onset of panic disorder, clinical severity and agoraphobia

Abstract

The authors examined (a) the incidence and perception of life events during the year prior to the onset of panic disorder (PD), (b) whether psychosocial stress are related to clinical severity and course of PD, and (c) whether domains of life events are differentially associated with panic and agoraphobia. The Cuestionario de Sucesos Vitales [Life Events Questionnaire] (Sandín and Chorot, 1999) and the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (Shear et al., 1997) were completed by subjects with diagnosis of PD with/without agoraphobia and nonclinical subjects (controls). There were significant differences be-tween clinical and nonclinical subjects on general perceived life stress and on health, social, work, and family domains. Although antecedent life stress was not associated with subsequent panic severity or course of the disorder after 8 weeks of cognitive-behavior therapy, the social life stress domain pre-dicted agoraphobia. The findings are discussed in light to the relationship between life stress and PD.