Panic disorder and primary unipolar depression. A comparison of background and outcome.

Outcome at discharge and during a follow-up averaging 5 years clearly distinguished 116 panic disorder inpatients from 123 age- and sex-matched inpatient controls with primary unipolar depression - 60.2% of the primary depression patients recovered at some time during follow-up compared to only 15.5% of the panic disorder patients. Differences in recovery rates grew larger with increasing follow-up length and were undiminished by the exclusion of patients who received antidepressants or convulsive therapy. Furthermore, these two groups had no predictors of outcome in common. These findings accord with other family and follow-up studies in support of a clear separation between panic disorder and primary depression.