Discussion

After examining the results of this study, it is clear that frequent panickers endorsed more irrational beliefs, had higher levels of trait anger, anxiety, depression, and inward anger expression than non-panickers. Furthermore, frequent panickers were less able to accurately interpret their internal sensations than non-panickers. The feeling of helplessness and not being in control of one's life was also positively related to panic attacks.

In terms of global irrational beliefs (total RBI score), frequent panickers tended to endorse more irrational beliefs than non-panickers. When one looks at specific irrational beliefs, the picture changes somewhat. Only five of the eleven RBI subscales differentiated between frequent and infrequent panickers and non-panickers, specifically Catastrophizing, Avoidance and Inertia, Blaming, Future Concerns, and Emotional Control. Frequent panickers had significantly higher scores on these RBI subscales than non-panickers. Mean scores for infrequent panickers were not significantly different from non-panickers on these five subscales. In addition, infrequent panickers had significantly lower scores on these subscales than frequent panickers, with the exception of A & I.