ABSTRACT
A significantly higher rate of cardiovascular death was found for the panic disorder patients than for the general population, but no differences were observed in death rates due to cancer. Clinical observation reveals many depressive symptoms in the agoraphobic-panic disorders. Given that anxiety characterizes the agoraphobia-panic syndrome, some speculation concerning the specific type of response tendency characterizing agoraphobia may be in order. The phenomenology of separation anxiety, like homesickness, includes both sadness, as manifested by crying, and anxiety. Klein et al. make an interesting case for an effect of imipramine in blocking the signs of separation anxiety in mammals, perhaps similar to the effect of imipramine in the school phobic child. S. Rachman has suggested the possibility of measuring the effects of safety signals in reducing anxiety, a measure that may better tap the dimensions of separation anxiety than existing instruments.
