Attachment styles, temperament, childhood traumas and early life events in panic disorder comorbid with adult separation anxiety disorder

This study is intended to analyze early life events, childhood traumas, temperament, attachment styles in the patients diagnosed with Panic Disorder with and without ASAD, and to determine the probable etiologic differences through comparison with healthy controls. A total of 148 subjects were included in the study, of whom 74 had PD and 74 were healthy controls identified with CIDI. In 40 of the 74 patients diagnosed with PD, ASAD was identified with Structured Clinical Interview for SAD. Panic Disorder Severity Scale was applied by the clinician to determine the severity of PD. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Collection Formwhich was developed for this study, Beck Depression Scale, Beck Anxiety Scale, Temps-A Scale, Childhood Trauma Scale and Inventory of Experiences in Close Relationships II were filled by the participants. SAD was determined to emerge in adulthood by 67.5%. In childhood, a relationship was determined between separation from parents, cyclothymic temperament traits, dominant anxious temperament, comorbid psychiatric disorders and depression, dimension of attachment anxiety, loss of functionality and PD with ASAD. Childhood SAD increases the risk of PD with ASAD 7 times as much. Dominant anxious temperament, however, increases the risk of PD with ASAD 5 times as much. Anxious attachment, dominant anxious temperament and cyclothymic temperament traits, and the etiologic factors such as separation from parents in the early childhood increase the risk of PD with ASAD, which accompanies PD at a non-negligible frequency. ASAD increases the loss of functionality along with the increased severity of disease. Childhood SAD also increases PD both with and without ASAD significantly.