Panic Disorder Research

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews and discusses various articles written about panic disorders in pregnant women, and in children. The paper also takes a look at anxiety disorder. The paper suggests that panic disorders may have both psychological and biochemical origins. The paper reports that children who are abused have a higher risk for panic disorder in adulthood, and mothers with panic disorders often give birth to smaller babies.

From the Paper:

"Results indicate that mothers with panic disorder continued to have panic attacks throughout their pregnancies. Only 8% also had symptoms of depression during pregnancy. Between them and the control group, no significant differences were found in terms of maternal age, race, socioeconomic status, primiparous status, smoking during pregnancy, or psychotropic medications taken during pregnancy. Panic disorder mothers had higher blood pressures and were more likely to report eating disorders, but no significant differences were found in the gestational ages of their babies and mothers in the control group; however, PD mothers had babies with significantly lower birth weights. Their infants were not born earlier, but they were smaller; however, although the birth weights were significantly smaller, they were not below normal. A statistical analysis allowed the researchers to conclude that other variables, such as smoking and high stress, were not responsible for the finding of low birth rate in PD mothers. They do point out that if PD risk were combined with other risk factors, this could spell problems for the child. They admit that causes of low-birth weight may not have been completely determined and some of their analytic methods could have affected their findings. The use of Caucasian, middle-to-upper class women meant the sample was not representative of the entire population."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bandelow, B., Sojka, F. et al (2006). Panic disorder during pregnancy and postpartum period. European Psychiatry, 21, 495-500.
• Biederman, J., Petty, C., Faraone, S. V. et al (2006). Effects of parental anxiety disorders in children at high risk for panic disorder: A controlled study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 94, 191-197.
• Goodwin, R. D., Fergusson, D. M. and Horwood, L. J. (2004). Childhood abuse and familial violence and the risk of panic attacks and panic disorder in young adulthood. Psychological Medicine, 35, 881-890.
• Warren, S. L., Racu, C., Gregg, V. and Simmens, S. J. (2006). Maternal panic disorder: Infant prematurity and low birth weight. Anxiety Disorders, 20, 342-352.

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