Respiratory pathophysiology of clinical anxiety outside the laboratory : assessment of end-tidal pCO2, respiratory pattern variability, and transfer function RSA

This chapter describes measurement methods developed for the assessment of respiratory abnormalities in clinically anxious patients outside the laboratory. We then review an ambulatory study of driving phobics during repeated sessions of driving exposure. The results show that the acute end-tidal pCO2 decrease during exposure in patients normalizes with repeated exposure. We then describe a second study that utilizes 24-hr assessment of respiratory abnormalities in panic patients as a treatment outcome measure.