Panic disorder is one of the newer mental disorders listed in the DSM. It first appeared under its current nomenclature in the DSM-III, and new information is being learned about the disorder all the time. Panic disorder is linked to many other, more serious disorders, both physical and psychological. Depression and agoraphobia are the most common links, but other problems, such as an increased risk of alcohol abuse, cardiac and gastrointestinal problems, increased risk of suicide, higher usage of medical institutions, and general hypochandriasis are also very common. This article will attempt to summarize some of the research that has been done in the field and will discuss various treatments that exist.
Introduction
Panic disorder is new to the DSM, but it has been written about for quite
some time. One of the earliest reports of the disorder was back in the 17th
century, when Robert Burton, an English clergyman, described it in his book, The
Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) as "[a] fear [that] causeth in man, as to
be red, pale, tremble, sweat… It amazeth men that are to speak or show
themselves in public". During the 1800s, panic disorder was first
described in medical documentation, when a Civil War physician named Jacob De
Costa described symptoms similar to those of panic disorder in soldiers after
the fighting had finished. Sigmund Freud is widely considered to be the first
major psychiatrist to study the disorder in depth. He coined the term anxiety
neurosis, and this was the term that was used to describe the disorder for
over half a century. It appeared in the DSM-I and DSM-II this way. The leading
researcher in the field during the 20th century was Donald F. Klein, who, in
the middle of the century, first demonstrated the use of anti-depressants to
avoid recurring panic attacks. Then, in 1980, the DSM-III came out. It listed
panic disorder as a separate disorder for the first time.