Triggering the false suffocation alarm in panic disorder patients by using a voluntary breath-holding procedure.

The authors compared the maximal duration of voluntary breath-holding in patients with panic disorder (N = 23), patients with generalized social phobia (N = 10), and healthy subjects (N = 26). Patients with panic disorder had significantly shorter breath-holding durations than either comparison group. Groups did not otherwise differ in physiologic response to the breath-holding. Implications for a false suffocation alarm in panic disorder are discussed.