Levels of psychological experience in asthma: General and illness-specific concomitants of panic-fear personality

Coping styles in asthma indexed by a Panic‐Fear personality measure are known to influence physicians' medical decisions and long‐term treatment outcome. Unusually High or Low Panic‐Fear personality styles are maladaptive, the former characterized by anxious, helpless dependency and the latter by an extreme counterphobic independence. In this study (N = 90), the psychological experiences among Panic‐Fear personality groups (Low, Moderate, and High) of asthma patients are described at three levels of assessment: (1) general personality characteristics; (2) attitudes toward asthma and its treatment; and (3) the subjective symptoms reported during breathing difficulties. Comparisons among the groups delineated the linkages between Panic‐Fear personality and more illness‐specific attitudes, symptoms, and experiences in asthma. Discussion centered upon how general personality and illness‐specific characteristics associated with extreme High and Low Panic‐Fear personality may contribute to the psychomaintenance of asthma.