In cognitive behavioural therapy for panic disorder, which technique directly targets the catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations by deliberately inducing feared physical symptoms such as dizziness, palpitations, or breathlessness in a controlled setting?

• A Systematic desensitisation to external phobic cues
• B Interoceptive exposure ✓
• C Flooding with imaginal trauma narrative
• D Applied relaxation with biofeedback

Explanation

Interoceptive exposure deliberately reproduces internal sensations, for example hyperventilating to induce dizziness or spinning to induce vertigo, so the patient learns these sensations are harmless rather than signs of catastrophe. Systematic desensitisation targets external cues in phobias, imaginal flooding is used mainly in PTSD, and applied relaxation addresses general arousal but does not confront the internal sensations that maintain panic.

Reference: Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 12th ed.

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