Defense mechanisms and symptom severity in panic disorder.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Whether the use of maladaptive defense style is a trait or a state phenomenon in panic disorder (PD) is still an open question. The aim of the study was to verify whether PD patients used a different defense style than healthy subjects, after controlling for the effect of symptoms severity.

METHODS

Therefore, 61 PD patients and 64 healthy controls participated in the study. All subjects were evaluated with SCID-IV, SCL-90, Ham-A, Ham-D and the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 items (DSQ-40).

RESULTS

PD patients showed higher Ham-A, Ham-D and SCL-90 scores than controls and they used more neurotic and immature defences. The differences in defense style disappeared after controlling for the effect of symptom severity, whereas the differences in symptom severity persisted after controlling for the effect of defense style.

CONCLUSIONS

This finding suggests that the use of less mature defenses in PD was explained by the severity of anxious symptoms, whereas the contrary was not true. Therefore, the use of less mature defense style might be supposed to be a state phenomenon in PD.