The present study investigated the efficacy of heart rate feedback training in the treatment of panic disorder. Eight patients with anxiety disorders participated in 7 feedback sessions, in which they were instrumentally trained to produce increases and decreases in heart rate in the presence of visual feedback. When they could successfully differentiate between the increase and decrease responses, subjects were instructed to use the decrease response to control anxiety and panic, and to avoid the increase response. Subjects were not made aware of the target responses until training was completed. Clinical improvement was measured through the administration of a psychometric test battery and a daily anxiety/panic diary. A non-anxious Control group, consisting of 10 subjects, was utilized to provide comparisons with the Anxiety group in the areas of feedback skill, baseline psychophysiology, and change in anxiety levels with the development of feedback skill. As a result of feedback training, Anxiety patients learned to produce increases and decreases in heart rate in the presence and absence of feedback. They also reported a decline in anxiety and panic over the course of feedback training. To evaluate whether clinical improvement was related specifically to feedback skill as opposed to non-specific treatment factors, dose-response relations were examined, where a dose was defined as a subject's degree of differentiation between increases and decreases in heart rate, as measured by a t-test. Clinical improvement was measured as the change in number of panic attacks per day, compared to baseline. A positive, significant correlation was found between subjects' degree of feedback skill and decline in panic at a one-month follow-up. A number of alternative explanations for the dose-response relationship are discussed, as well as the limitations of this study. It is concluded that further well-controlled studies will be required to confirm these findings, and to determine the source of the dose-response relationship, although this study provides encouraging evidence for the use of feedback training as a behavioral treatment for panic disorder. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/24270 |
| Date | 09 1900 |
| Creators | McGovern, Linda |
| Contributors | Roberts, L. E., Psychology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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