Psychiatr. praxi. 2020;21(3):129-135 | DOI: 10.36290/psy.2020.023

Panic disorder in partnership

PhDr. Petra Kasalová¹, prof. MUDr. Ján Praško, CSc.^1,2,3, MUDr. Jakub Vaněk¹, PhDr. Marie Ocisková, Ph.D.¹, PhDr. Michaela Holubová, Ph.D.^1,4, PhDr. Marta Zaťková, Ph.D.³, MUDr. Kamila Minaříková¹

¹ Klinika psychiatrie, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc

² Katedra psychologie, Institut postgraduálního vzdělávání ve zdravotnictví, Praha

³ Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre, Fakulta sociálnych vied a zdravotnictva, Katedra psychologických vied, Slovensko

⁴ Krajská nemocnice Liberec, Centrum psychiatrie, Liberec

Marital disagreements can be associated with anxiety in one or both partners. However, it is not possible to determine exactly how marriage contributes to the onset and maintenance of these symptoms. The importance of understanding partner interactions in patients with panic disorder or agoraphobia is supported by a number of studies. The results presented in this review generally suggest that a relationship may affect the severity of panic disorder and agoraphobia and vice versa. The relationship between panic disorder and the relationship between partners is bi-directional: psychological problems adversely affect the relationships and attitudes of the partner towards the patient and significantly affect his anxiety. It is often difficult to determine what is the cause, what is the consequence, and how much anxiety overlaps with the partner's problems. Insufficient partner support also seems to be related to the severity of panic disorder and agoraphobia, while positive social support can be beneficial for patients. These results emphasize the importance of partners in helping people recover from the disorder. The patient's emotional attachment seems to correlate with the results of psychotherapy. Interventions that lead to relationship adjustments (e. g. communication avoidance) improve the outcome of anxiety disorder treatment. Conversely, if the relationship does not develop more adaptive patterns, the results of psychotherapy are worse. Living with someone who suffers from a psychological problem can be challenging for relatives because they may not know how to optimally support or respond to the patient's behavior without supporting the maintenance of the disorder. Integrating partners into therapy as well as providing tools (psychoeducation, partner psychotherapy) to deal with the symptoms of the disorder could benefit both the patient and the partner. However, in order to assess the level of support, more studies would be needed to determine which type of partnership support is useful and which in turn maintains the problems.

Keywords: dissatisfaction in a relationship, panic disorder, agoraphobia, marriage, marital therapy.

Published: December 10, 2020  Show citation