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Childhood Risk Factors for Agoraphobia and Panic Disorder
by Stephen Price
In addition to genetics, what one learns during one’s
upbringing is likely to play a role in the development of
panic disorder and agoraphobia.
An article appeared in the January, 2006 issue of the
“American Psychologist,” written by Susan Mineka and Richard
Zinbarg at Northwestern University explaining that the
combination of genetic factors and prior learning make
someone particularly vulnerable to panic disorder and
agoraphobia.
The article questions the assumption that panic disorder and
agoraphobia develop by conditioning alone. The authors pose
this question:
"If simple conditioning explains the cause of panic disorder
and agoraphobia then why do some people who experience panic
attacks go on to develop panic disorder and agoraphobia and
some don't?"
The article presents a number of studies to suggest that the
following learning experiences in a child’s home environment
contribute to the later development of panic disorder and
agoraphobia in addition to their genes:
1) Childhood learning experiences in which one learns to
perceive oneself as being helpless or lacking control.
2) Being rewarded as a child for engaging in sick role
behavior when experiencing anxiety or panic.
3) Witnessing chronic illness of another family member and
learning to perceive any unusual bodily sensations as
dangerous.
To summarize the point of the article, initial panic attacks
set the stage for the conditioning that leads to panic
disorder and agoraphobia, but children who experience these
three risk factors are predisposed to this conditioning
process.
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