Panic Disorder
- Panic Attack
- Panic Disorder
- Recurrent Panic Attacks
- Anticipatory Anxiety
- Agoraphobia
- Hypochondriasis
- Demoralisation
- Epidemiology
- Age of Onset
- Situation of Onset
- Stressful Life Events
- Early Life Events
- Maternal Over-Protection
- Separation Anxiety
- Short and Long-term Outcomes
- Comorbidity
- Panic Disorder: Pathogenesis
- Biological Findings
- Provocative Agents
- Neurotransmitter Systems
- Neuroanatomical Models
- Brain Imaging
- Psychological Models
- Psychodynamic Models
- Behavioural Models
- Cognitive Models
- Areas of Controversy and Debate
- The Evolutionary Perspective
- Panic Disorder: Treatment
- Pharmacotherapy
- Benzodiazepines
- Tricyclic Antidepressants
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
- Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors
- Other Drugs
- Psychotherapy
Neuroanatomical Models
Gray proposed the earliest neuroanatomical model for anxiety. Such a model outlines a septohippocampal brain circuit and identifies behavioural inhibition as one of the potentially important functions for specific brain structures and their connections. Gorman et al. were the first authors to propose a neuroanatomical model specific to PDand they coherently accounted for the various clinical features of PD: panic attacks (discharge of brain stem nuclei ), anticipatory anxiety (limbic activation and kindling), agoraphobia/fearful avoidance (prefrontal cortical activation).
More recently, attention has been paid to amygdala, a phylogenetically ancient structure playing a central role in conditioned fear. Dysfunction in the amygdala, due perhaps to a lack of control by more recent cerebral structures, may result in amygdaloid activation and panic attack