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To address the lack of a simple and standardized instrument to assess overall panic disorder severity, the authors developed a scale for the measurement of panic disorder severity. Ten independent evaluators used the seven-item Panic Disorder Severity Scale to assess 186 patients with principal DSM-III-R diagnoses of panic disorder (with no or mild agoraphobia) who were participating in the Multicenter Collaborative Treatment Study of Panic Disorder. In addition, 89 of these patients were reevaluated with the same scale after short-term treatment. A subset of 24 patients underwent two independent assessments to establish interrater reliability. Internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and sensitivity to change were also determined. The Panic Disorder Severity Scale was associated with excellent interrater reliability, moderate internal consistency, and favorable …