Catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations and external events in panic disorder, other anxiety disorders, and healthy subjects: A systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 3; p. e0194493
• Main Authors: Ohst, Barnabas, Tuschen-Caffier, Brunna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 20.03.2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agoraphobia - psychology; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Arousal; Biology and Life Sciences; Catastrophic events; Clinical psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Disorders; Healthy Volunteers - psychology; Heart attacks; Humans; Mathematical models; Medicine and Health Sciences; Meta-analysis; Models, Psychological; Panic; Panic attacks; Panic Disorder - psychology; Patients; Physical Sciences; Psychotherapy; Questionnaires; Research and Analysis Methods; Sensation; Systematic review; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194493

The catastrophic misinterpretation model of panic disorder (PD) predicts that the catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations is a distinctive characteristic of PD. Existing research on this prediction has produced mixed findings. This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing the strength of catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations and external events in patients with PD, patients with other anxiety disorders, and healthy controls. Following a systematic screening, seven studies were included in the meta-analysis. For the catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations, analyses showed medium to large effects between patients with PD and healthy controls and between patients with PD and patients with other anxiety disorders. For the catastrophic misinterpretation of external events, analyses showed medium to large effects between patients with PD and healthy controls and a small negative effect between patients with PD and patients with other anxiety disorders. The findings support the assumption that the catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations is a distinctive characteristic of panic disorder and thus lend support to the catastrophic misinterpretation model of PD.