The comparison of some psychodynamic structure of individuals diagnosed with panic disorder and healthy individuals via objective and projective tests

Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that is characterized by unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks, on the other hand, are defined as sudden seizures that include palpitations, sweating, tremors, shortness of breath, the feeling of numbness, or the feeling that something bad will happen. This study aims to investigate how anamnestic questioning and the use of objective and projective tests contribute to the understanding of some psychodynamic structures of individuals diagnosed with panic disorder. A total of 10 people who were diagnosed with panic disorder (n = 5) and not diagnosed (n = 5) were included in the study. Convergent parallel design, one of the mixed-method research, was used in the study. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected simultaneously. While "Causal Comparative Research" was used in the quantitative stage of the study, the interpretive phenomenological analysis was used in the qualitative stage. While Nvivo 12 qualitative analysis program was used to analyse the data obtained from the qualitative part of the research, SPSS 25 statistical package program was used to analyse the data obtained from the quantitative part. Finally, while the 'Mann-Whitney U test' was used to determine the difference between the groups, Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the psychological symptoms and panic severity of diagnosed individuals. As a result of the quantitative research findings, it was observed that there was a positive relationship with the severity of panic disorder and hostility, somatization and depression. Besides, as a result of qualitative research findings, it was determined that the individuals who were diagnosed used the 'regression' defence mechanism whereas the undiagnosed group used the 'intellectualization' defence mechanism more intensively. Keywords: Panic disorder, Thematic apperception test, Projective methods, Psychodynamic approach, Psychological assessment