ABSTRACT

Objective/Background: Nocturnal panic involves experiencing panic attacks out of a sleeping state without obvious causes. Roughly half of patients with panic disorder will experience nocturnal panic in addition to panic attacks while awake, or daytime panic. Like daytime panic, nocturnal panic also occurs in other disorders such as PTSD. The Fear of Loss of Vigilance theory is currently the only model available to explain nocturnal panic. It suggests nocturnal panickers fear states in which they cannot easily react to or protect themselves from danger. The current study sought to expand upon the existing theory by including constructs from the broader anxiety literature. Nocturnal panickers were expected to report higher scores on these measures when compared to daytime panickers and non-panickers.

Participants: A sample of 166 participants were screened for panic history.

Methods: Participants completed self-report measures regarding panic attacks, fear of sleep, intolerance of uncertainty, responsibility for harm, and fear of loss of vigilance.

Results: Measures of fear of sleep and responsibility for harm successfully differentiated nocturnal from daytime panickers, whereas measures of intolerance of uncertainty and fear of loss of vigilance did not.

Conclusions: These results provide partial support for the Fear of Loss of Vigilance theory. Modifications to the theory to incorporate additional constructs are suggested.

摘要

目的/背景：夜间恐慌包括在没有明显原因的情况下在睡眠状态下经历惊恐发作。大约一半的恐慌症患者除了清醒时的恐慌发作或白天的恐慌外，还会经历夜间恐慌。与白天的恐慌一样，夜间恐慌也会发生在其他疾病中，例如 PTSD。失去警觉的恐惧理论是目前唯一可用于解释夜间恐慌的模型。这表明夜间恐慌者害怕无法轻易对危险做出反应或保护自己免受危险的状态。当前的研究试图通过纳入更广泛的焦虑文献中的结构来扩展现有理论。与白天恐慌者和非恐慌者相比，夜间恐慌者预计会在这些措施上报告更高的分数。

参与者：对 166 名参与者的样本进行了恐慌史筛查。

方法：参与者完成了关于惊恐发作、害怕睡眠、不容忍不确定性、伤害责任和害怕失去警惕的自我报告措施。

结果：对睡眠的恐惧和对伤害的责任的测量成功地区分了夜间和白天的恐慌者，而对不确定性的不容忍和对失去警惕的恐惧的测量则没有。

结论：这些结果为失去警觉的恐惧理论提供了部分支持。建议修改理论以纳入额外的结构。