Panic Disorder: Costs of Panic Disorder

Costs of Panic Disorder

Panic disorder with or without agoraphobia is associated with impaired occupational and social functioning and poor overall quality of life. People with panic disorder, compared with people in the general population, report poorer physical health. Panic disorder is a leading reason for seeking emergency department consultations and a leading cause for seeking mental health serv-ices, surpassing both schizophrenia and mood disorders. Panic disorder exceeds the economic costs associated with many other anxiety disorders such as social phobia, generalized anxiety dis-order and obsessive–compulsive disorder. The high medical costs are partly because panic disorder patients quite often present to their primary care physician or hospital emergency departments, thinking they are in imminent danger of dying or “going crazy.” In these settings, patients may undergo a series of extensive medical tests before panic disorder is, if ever, finally diagnosed. Ruling out general medical conditions is good clinical practice but the process contributes substantially to the costs that panic disorder places on health care systems.