Psychosomatics 20: 612-625, 1979
Copyright
© 1979 Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
Diagnosis and treatment of the hyperventilation syndrome
THEO COMPERNOLLE M.D.1,
KEES HOOGDUIN M.D.2, , and
LEEN JOELE M.D.3
1 Associated with the Akademisch Ziekenhuis Gasthuisberg in Leuven, Belgium
2 Psychiatrist at the Stichting Geestelyke Volksgezondheid, Delft, the Netherlands
3 Psychiatrist at the Bloemendaal Psychiatric Clinic, The Hague, the Netherlands
The hyperventilation syndrome is often misdiagnosed because attacks do not always involve obvious overbreathing or tetany. Aggressive, self-mutilating, tantrum-like, psychosis-like, and phobic behaviors often accompany these attacks and may mask the underlying problem. These behavioral disorders usually disappear along with the attacks when patients are treated for hyperventilation syndrome. A therapeutic procedure based on provoking a hyperventilation attack, teaching the patient to stop the attack by breathing into a paper bag, and daily voluntary hyperventilation was successful in more than 100 patients.
