ABSTRACT
Despite evidence that panic attacks are prevalent in people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Falsetti & Resnick, 1997, 2000; Bryant & Panasetis, 2001), and national comorbidity studies demonstrating elevated rates of comorbid panic disorder among men and women with PTSD in the US (Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson 1995), studies addressing the interrelationship of these two disorders are limited. However, a number of recent studies have investigated comorbid PTSD and panic attacks. Vujanovic, Zvolensky, and Bernstein (2008) found a differential significance of anxiety sensitivity (AS) physical concerns predicting panic symptoms and AS psychological concerns predicting PTSD. Treatment studies have reported successful CBT for comorbid PTSD and panic attacks in women compared to a control condition (Falsetti, Resnick, & Davis, 2008), in Cambodian refugees (Hinton, Hoffmann, Pitman, Pollack, & Barlow, 2008), and using predominantly interoceptive exposure (Wald & Taylor, 2008).
