This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Geraci, M. F.
Right arrow Articles by Uhde, T. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Geraci, M. F.
Right arrow Articles by Uhde, T. W.

The British Journal of Psychiatry 161: 512-516 (1992)
© 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Diurnal rhythms and symptom severity in panic disorder. A preliminary study of 24-hour changes in panic attacks, generalised anxiety, and avoidance behaviour

MF Geraci and TW Uhde
Clinical Center Nursing Department, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

Diurnal changes in the frequency of panic attacks and symptoms of generalised anxiety, phobic anxiety and phobic avoidance in 34 panic- disorder patients and 40 normal controls were evaluated. The panic- disorder patients had significant diurnal changes in generalised and phobic anxiety, but not phobic avoidance. Increased severity of symptoms and prominent diurnal changes were most evident in the panic- disorder patients with a history of depression. Although panic attacks were distributed throughout the 24-hour period, patients with a current episode or history of depression tended to have more frequent panic attacks in the morning or early afternoon. These observations challenge the traditional belief that 'anxious neurotic' patients are relatively asymptomatic upon awakening in the morning and then develop more severe symptoms of anxiety later in the day.