The panic-agoraphobic spectrum

✍ Scribed by G. B. Cassano; E. Frank; J. D. Maser; M. K. Shear; A. Rotondo; M. Mauri; L. Dell'Osso

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 104 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199908)14:1+<s38::aid-hup116>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

Categorical classi®cations of mental disorders do not take into account the subthreshold, atypical and often enduring symptoms that accompany the core manifestations of full-blown mental disorders. However, this often neglected spectrum of symptoms may be as distressing and debilitating as the full-blown disorder and may have unrecognized importance in treatment selection and response. To this end, a spectrum approach to mental disorders, such as bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, eating, and panic disorder has been developed, which has been extensively used and proven eective in clinical practice. The need for a systematic identi®cation and assessment of a broad array of symptoms and behavioural features led, as a ®rst step, to the conceptualization of the panic-agoraphobic spectrum model and to the development of a structured interview (SCI-PAS). This model has been constructed by identifying dierent psychopathological and clinical domains incorporating and extending Panic Disorder as described in DSM-IV. The rationale, clinical usefulness, and heuristic signi®cance of the panic-agoraphobic spectrum model will be discussed.