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.