[Are pathological (or vital) anxiety and common fear the same experiences? A controlled study].

INTRODUCTION: Some authors affirm that the anxiety of panic attacks is endogenous and of different quality that the common fear. But objective clinical data don't exist that confirm that observation. METHOD: The authors study by means of a discriminant analysis the description of the anxiety made by subject with panic attacks and normal subjects with common fear. RESULTS: It meet a discriminant function that shows the existence of qualitative differences between both experiences. CONCLUSION: It seem to have achieved enough empirical support in order to sustain that the anxiety of panic attacks and the common fear are two qualitatively different experiences; presumably due to their several origin.