Clinical, psychometric, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological methods (quantitative EEG and P300 auditory event-related potentials) were used to study 22 patients with panic disorder without agoraphobia, 19 patients with the paroxysmal form of atrial fibrillation, and 43 healthy subjects. Patients with panic disorder differed from patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in having higher levels of anxiety and greater impairments to cognitive functions. As compared with healthy subjects, patients with panic disorder showed greater P300 peak amplitude and EEG spectral power in the theta and beta frequency ranges in the right hemisphere; P300 peak amplitude and EEG spectral power in the beta frequency range in both hemispheres were decreased in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. These data may provide evidence that different mechanisms may underlie the occurrence of paroxysmal states of neurotic (panic disorder) and psychosomatic (paroxysmal atrial fibrillation) nature.
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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 41–53, January–February, 2014.
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Gordeev, S.A., Kovrov, G.V., Posokhov, S.I. et al. Psychophysiological Characteristics of Nonepileptic Paroxysmal Disorders. Neurosci Behav Physi 45, 375–383 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0085-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0085-9