Cognitive versus Physiological Dominance in Panic Attacks: A Symptom-Subtype Study

Abstract

Panic attacks, which are defined by a complex interaction of cognitive and physiological (physical) symptoms, are one of the ways in which anxiety disorders can be debilitating. This study adopts a cognitive-behavioral approach, which considers cognitive interpretation to be a facilitator of physiological arousal, to examine the relative frequency of cognitive and somatic symptoms experienced during panic attacks.