The relationship between childhood trauma and emotional regulation difficulty in panic disorder patients

Purpose: This study aims to determine the presence of childhood trauma and emotional dysfunction as well as evaluate the relationship between childhood trauma and emotional dysfunction in patients with panic disorder. Materials and Methods: The study included 80 patients who met the study criteria according to the DSM-5 criteria and 80 randomly selected healthy individuals with similar sociodemographic characteristics. Panic Agoraphobia Scale, Childhood Trauma Scale (CTQ-28), and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were applied to the participants. Results: A total of 160 cases were included in the study, including 80 patients aged 18-53 and 80 control subjects aged 19-61. In the patient group, the total score of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)) and the Awareness, Openness, Disagreement, Strategies, Impulse and Goals subscales were statistically significantly higher than the control group. The prevalence of those with a CTQ score of >= 35 was 47.5% in the patient group and 26.3% in the control group, which was statistically significantly higher in the patient group. Increase in "Disagreement", "Awareness", and "Goals" subscores significantly increased the likelihood of being in the patient group. Conclusion: Pharmacological agents and therapies targeting the affected regions may reduce the adverse effects of childhood trauma and associated emotional regulation difficulties in patients with panic disorder, increasing the success of treatment and quality of life.