University Hospital Hamburg- Eppendorf, Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
Curr Pharm Des. 2012;18(35):5608-18. doi: 10.2174/138161212803530817.
Symptom provocation has proved its worth for understanding the pathophysiology of diseases and in general for the development of new therapeutic approaches in the medical field. In the research of anxiety disorders, investigations using experimentally induced panic attacks by various agents, such as sodium lactate, carbon dioxide, cholezystokinine-tetrapetid etc., have a long tradition and allow the exploration of usually naturally occuring spontaneous psychopathological phenomena under controlled conditions. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent disorder that can develop following exposure to an extreme traumatic event. In DSM-IV it is currently classified as an anxiety disorder and shares phenomenological similarities with panic disorder. The use of panicogenic challenge tests is also an interesting neurobiological approach to learn more about the nature of PTSD and may be a possibility to develop new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of PTSD symptoms. Not only panic anxiety, but also flashbacks and other dissociative symptoms can be provoked by several panicogens in PTSD. The purpose of this review is to evaluate studies using panicogens in PTSD. Methodological short-comings of current studies and needed directions of further research are discussed.
症状激发在医学领域已被证明对理解疾病的病理生理学以及开发新的治疗方法非常有价值。在焦虑障碍的研究中，使用各种药物（如乳酸钠、二氧化碳、胆囊收缩素四肽等）诱发实验性惊恐发作的研究由来已久，可在控制条件下探索通常自然发生的自发性精神病理现象。创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）是一种常见的障碍，可在经历极端创伤性事件后发生。在 DSM-IV 中，它目前被归类为焦虑障碍，与惊恐障碍具有相似的表现。使用惊恐激发挑战测试也是了解 PTSD 本质的一种有趣的神经生物学方法，也可能为 PTSD 症状的治疗开发新的治疗策略提供可能性。不仅惊恐焦虑，而且闪回和其他分离症状也可以被 PTSD 中的几种惊恐激发剂引发。本综述的目的是评估 PTSD 中使用惊恐激发剂的研究。讨论了当前研究的方法学缺陷和进一步研究的方向。
