Neuropsychophysiological correlates of lactate-induced panic.

1. One of the simplest and most direct applications of neuropsychophysiological techniques is to anxiety disorders. 2. The physiological changes accompanying the lactate induction of panic appear, for most response systems, to be similar to those found spontaneously in anxious patients and are characteristic of a state of hyperarousal. 3. Patients vulnerable to lactate-induced panic exhibit higher than normal pre-panic autonomic activity, elevated autonomic-somatic activity during lactate-induced panic and an EEG response to provoked panic which appears to be comprised of a "paradoxical" shift towards slow wave delta activity and an altered brainstem evoked response. 4. Additional studies are warranted to determine the relationship of these physiological changes to the triggering of panic and preliminary attempts in this direction are discussed.