title: Differential attentional bias in generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cognitive theorists relate anxiety disorders to the way in which emotional information is processed. The existing research suggests that patients with anxiety disorders tend to allocate their attention toward threat-related information selectively, and this may differ among different types of anxious subjects. The aim of this study was to explore attentional bias in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder (PD) using the emotional Stroop task and compare the differences between them.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-two patients with GAD, 34 patients with PD, and 46 healthy controls performed the emotional Stroop task with four word types, ie, GAD-related words, PD-related words, neutral words, and positive words.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with GAD and those with PD were slower than healthy controls to respond to all stimuli. Patients with GAD had longer response latencies in color-naming both PD-relevant words and GAD relevant words. Patients with PD had longer response latencies only in color-naming PD-related words, similar to healthy controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with GAD and those with PD had a different pattern of attentional bias, and there was insufficient evidence to support the existence of specific attentional bias in patients with PD.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Zhiyan
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Wu
authors: Yiyun
authors: Y
authors: Cai
authors: Yifeng
authors: Y
authors: Shen
authors: Liwei
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Shenxun
authors: S
authors: Shi
keywords: attentional bias; emotional Stroop task; generalized anxiety disorder; panic disorder