Citalopram in the Treatment of Early-onset Panic Disorder and School Phobia

Abstract

Panic Disorder (PD) is a common anxiety disorder, which has its onset relatively often during adolescence. Twenty-five percent of adult patients with PD have previously suffered from school phobia. In young patients it often represents a form of agoraphobia, although it may be present also in other psychiatric disorders which have their onset in young age. In this report we describe the results of 8 to 15-month citalopram treatment on three young patients with school phobia associated with PD. In our patients, low doses with citalopram were effective as in all patients the severity of school phobia decreased and the panic attacks disappeared. There were few drug-related side-effects as only one patient had mild headache at the beginning of the treatment. Our very preliminary results suggest that citalopram may be effective in school phobia related to PD. However, controlled studies are needed to demonstrate the safety, efficacy and appropriate length of citalopram treatment in childhood PD before it can be widely used in this disorder.