McNally R J, Hornig C D, Donnell C D
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Behav Res Ther. 1995 Feb;33(2):127-31. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(94)00037-k.
Klein's suffocation false alarm theory of panic implies that suffocation sensations should distinguish clinical from nonclinical panic attacks better than should other symptoms. To test this theory, we conducted phenomenologic comparisons between attack patterns of patients with panic disorder and community subjects who had experienced unexpected panic. Effect size and multivariate analyses revealed that three cognitive symptoms best discriminated clinical from nonclinical panic (fears of dying, heart attack, and loss of control). These findings are consistent with cognitive theories of panic. Although lacking the discriminative power of cognitive symptoms, suffocation sensations had the largest effect size of any physiological symptom. Accordingly, suffocation sensations may be especially likely to give rise to the catastrophic thoughts that best discriminate clinical from nonclinical panic.
克莱因关于惊恐发作的窒息假警报理论意味着，与其他症状相比，窒息感在区分临床惊恐发作和非临床惊恐发作方面应该更具优势。为了验证这一理论，我们对惊恐障碍患者和经历过意外惊恐发作的社区受试者的发作模式进行了现象学比较。效应量和多变量分析表明，三种认知症状在区分临床惊恐发作和非临床惊恐发作方面表现最佳（对死亡、心脏病发作和失控的恐惧）。这些发现与惊恐发作的认知理论一致。虽然窒息感缺乏认知症状的辨别力，但它在所有生理症状中效应量最大。因此，窒息感可能特别容易引发那些能最好地区分临床惊恐发作和非临床惊恐发作的灾难性想法。
