Anxiety sensitivity and panic attacks: a 1-year longitudinal study.
Fear of losing control predicts panic in college students and grows after the first attack.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Li et al. (2007) followed college students for one full year. They wanted to know if anxiety sensitivity predicts panic attacks.
Anxiety sensitivity means being afraid of anxiety itself. The team tracked who had panic attacks and who did not.
What they found
Students who feared losing their mind were more likely to have a panic attack. After the first attack, their fear of anxiety grew even stronger.
The study shows anxiety sensitivity is both a cause and a result of panic.
How this fits with other research
Firth et al. (2001) say panic comes from bad breathing. Li et al. (2007) say it comes from scary thoughts about losing control. Both can be true: thoughts trigger panic, then breathing gets messy.
Jack et al. (2003) found anxious people breathe too fast. Wen’s team adds the reason: they fear what the fast breathing means.
Matthews et al. (1987) showed anxiety can be learned like any habit. Wen’s work says the habit starts with a scary thought, not a snack.
Why it matters
When you see a client who says, "I think I’m going crazy," treat that fear as a warning sign. Teach them the thought is just a thought, not proof of madness. Add breathing skills if you also spot sighs or fast breaths. Catch the fear early and you may stop the first panic attack.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The hypothesis that anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a risk factor for panic genesis has obtained compelling support, but the clinical/practical importance of AS in panic genesis has been questioned. In addition, the association between panic experience and AS increase has not been clearly demonstrated. Through this 1-year longitudinal study among college students, the authors replicated the vulnerability effect of AS on panic onset. By measuring AS according to its hierarchical structure, the authors found an AS subfactor--AS-Mental Incapacitation Concerns--to be a significant predictor of panic onset. The authors also demonstrate that AS is not only statistically significant but also clinically/pragmatically important for the onset of panic. The association between panic and increased AS was confirmed in this study, although it remains for future research to conclude whether this association should be attributed to a "scar effect" of panic. Theoretical and methodological issues regarding tests of the scar effect hypothesis are discussed.
Behavior modification, 2007 · doi:10.1177/0145445506296969