Concordance Between Measures of Anxiety and Physiological Arousal Following Treatment of Panic Disorder in Adolescence

This study examined the concordance (or synchrony/desynchrony) between adolescents' self-reports of anxiety and physiological measures of arousal (heart rate) both prior to and after treatment for panic disorder. Results indicated a decline in reported subjective units of distress (SUDS) for the treatment group only at the post-treatment measurement for two of three tasks. Within the treatment group, heart rate changes during the Behavioral Approach Test (BAT) were observed following treatment for one task only. Implications of this apparent desynchrony between self-report and physiological measures in adolescent panic disorder are discussed, with cognitive changes in participants' perception of anxiety after treatment suggested as an important factor in recovery.