Abstract

KING, Anna Lucia Spear; VALENCA, Alexandre Martins  and  NARDI, António Egídio. Hyperventilation: The cognitive-behavior-therapy and the technique of the exercises in the induction of panic disorder symptoms. Rev Port Pneumol [online]. 2008, vol.14, n.2, pp.303-308. ISSN 0873-2159.

Panic disorder (PD) is characterized by frequent and recurrent acute panic attacks. The current cognitive conception for PD enhances the fear of corporal sensations, when the individual define his physical sensations as being related to a serious disease or imminent death, not interpreting them as natural physiologic mechanisms. We reported three severe cases of PD of the respiratory subtype, with agoraphobia, whose symptoms of hyperventilation predominated on clinical picture. The treatment consisted on tricycles antidepressant and cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) sessions. The objective of reporting the cases is to demonstrate the satisfactory evolution of the treatment with the technique of panic symptoms induction exercises (SIE) in controlled laboratory environment. On that way, reducing or extinguishing hyperventilation symptoms. This procedure was considered very important in the evolution of the treatment and allowed us to prepare the patients to face subsequent agoraphobic situations.

Keywords : Cognitive-behavior therapy; anxiety; breathing; panic disorder.

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