Use of the Panic Attack Questionnaire-IV to assess non-clinical panic attacks and limited symptom panic attacks in student and community samples.
Since its development in the mid-1980s, the Panic Attack Questionnaire (PAQ) has been one of the more, if not the most, commonly used self-report tools for assessing panic attacks. The usage of the instrument, however, has come amid potential concerns that instructions and descriptions may lead to an over-estimate of the prevalence of panic attacks. Furthermore, the instrument has not been revised since 1992, despite changes in DSM-IV criteria and more recent developments in the understanding of panic attacks. As a result, this paper describes a revision of the PAQ to improve the instruction and descriptive set, and to fully assess features of panic derived from recent conceptualizations. Students meeting DSM-IV panic attack criteria and those endorsing panic attacks, but not meeting criteria, showed few differences with the exception that those not meeting DSM-IV criteria typically reported a longer onset-to-peak intensity time than did Panickers. Results were cross-validated and extended using an independent Community Sample. A full descriptive phenomenology of panic attacks is described, and future directions for studying panic attacks using the PAQ are presented.
Norton
Peter J
PJ
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5022, USA. Peter.Norton@mail.uh.edu
Zvolensky
Michael J
MJ
Bonn-Miller
Marcel O
MO
Cox
Brian J
BJ
Norton
G Ron
GR
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015995:Prevalence; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires