Panic Disorder in Seizure Patients: A Diagnostic Pitfall

Panic disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis whose main feature is paroxysmal attacks of anxiety that strike suddenly without apparent provocation. Physicians explain the attacks as an ictal phenomenon in patients with known seizures because of their similarities to complex partial seizures. We report eight patients with seizures and panic disorder. Recognition of a second diagnostic entity resulted in a beneficial change in treatment in six of the eight. We did not find an increased incidence of panic disorder in our seizure clinic population as compared with the general population.