Defense mechanisms and symptom severity in panic disorder

Abstract

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.