ABSTRACT

Panic attacks are particularly intriguing for a variety of reasons. First, they illustrate the human tendency to focus attention on internal experiences as a source of information regarding the integrity of vital somatic and psychic functions. In studying conditions such as depression, cognitive investigators have concentrated on the way individuals selectively abstract and construe (or misconstrue) signals from the environment. The study of panic attacks (as well as of hypochondriasis and hysteria) has prompted examination of the way individuals process signals originating within the body.