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Respiratory Control: Its Contribution to the Treatment of Panic Attacks

A Controlled Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

George A. Hibbert  and
Michael Chan
George A. Hibbert
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
Michael Chan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
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Abstract

Patients who experienced panic attacks, with or without avoidance, were treated for two weeks with either training in controlled breathing or a placebo treatment. Subsequently, both groups received a limited period of conventional anxiety treatments, most commonly in vivo exposure. Patients were subdivided into ‘hyperventilators' and ‘non-hyperventilators' on the basis of the conventional provocation test. Observer ratings of anxiety showed a greater improvement for the group that received breathing training, but there was no evidence that ‘hyperventilators' benefited more from respiratory training than ‘non-hyperventilators'. Self-report measures of anxiety, avoidance, and depression/dysphoria showed no difference between treatments. These findings suggest that training in controlled breathing is not of specific benefit for those identified as ‘hyperventilators' by the provocation test, but that it may have a non-specific effect in the treatment of patients with panic attacks.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 2 , February 1989 , pp. 232 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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