So what is a panic attack and did you just have one? That is the question that we will consider in this article. Of course, it is not possible to diagnose a medical condition without a personal consultation, and the writer of this article is not a doctor. Nor should you use the internet as a tool for self-diagnosis. So you should discuss your own symptoms with your doctor. However, a general description of a panic attack could be helpful for a number of other reasons.

A panic attack is a condition where a person suddenly feels intense fear, usually for a short period of time. The fear could have an obvious cause, such as being caught in a dangerous situation, but most people expect to feel some panic in that type of situation. Therefore, the phrase ‘panic attack’ is usually used to describe a situation where the person is not in any physical danger, but feels intense fear and anxiety anyway.

A panic attack is very different from just feeling a little anxious about an upcoming stressful situation. There are physical symptoms that may include feeling faint or nauseous, visual disturbances, numbness or tingling sensations in the limbs, heart palpitations, chest pains, and shortness of breath.

The first time somebody has a panic attack, they often call emergency services because they may think they are having a heart attack or are convinced that they are dying for unknown reasons. In other cases, they may think they are going crazy.

Of course, these beliefs that we are dying or going crazy just add to the fear and increase the intensity of the attack. In many cases, shortness of breath leads to fast, shallow breathing and hyperventilation which also makes the symptoms worse. Because of this, a person having a panic attack can be trapped in a vicious cycle.

A panic attack is an extreme manifestation of the stress-related fight-or-flight response. So in many cases, a person suffering from a panic attack will feel an overwhelming urge to escape the physical situation that they are in or get away from the people that they are with. If not treated, this can lead to a phobia of certain situations (such as agoraphobia) which can seriously affect a person’s quality of life.

Please remember that, as we said earlier, anybody who thinks they may have had a panic attack should discuss this with a health professional as soon as they can. But more importantly, it is possible that your symptoms have a physical cause that needs treatment. So do make that appointment with the doctor’s office right now.

Panic attacks are extremely distressing and you will want to make sure that you know how to handle them. If you are asking what is a panic attack, you probably have more questions too, such as how to recover from a panic attack and how to prevent them happening again. These questions are covered in self-help programs available online.

Specific Social Phobias

Specific social phobias fall into two main types. One is a fear of acting in certain ways in a public situation. This type includes fear of public speaking, which is the most common social phobia, as well as stage fright, using public restrooms, and eating or writing in public. The other type of social phobia is a fear of certain social interactions, such as parties, interviews, speaking to somebody you do not know or dealing with authority figures.

Before considering treatment, it is important to understand what a phobia is. A phobia is an intense and irrational fear of a thing or situation which is not normally dangerous. So if a person is a little nervous around poisonous spiders, that is not a phobia. That is normal cautious behavior in a dangerous situation. But a person who is terrified to be near a small, harmless spider probably has a phobia.

In the same way, it is normal to be a little nervous before giving an important speech to a large and unfamiliar audience, especially if you are not used to doing that. But if you know that you would be sick with fear at the thought of giving a best man speech, or you would turn down an interesting, well-paid job because it involved giving occasional presentations to small groups of people, then you may have glossophobia.

Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder

Generalized social anxiety disorder is an unreasonable, persistent fear of being judged or humiliated in social situations. It can apply to any situation. It is usually strongest in situations where we have to interact with strangers, authority figures, people who have expectations of us or people whom we consider superior to ourselves in some way. Most of us have at least some friends or family members whom we can meet without anxiety. However, for some people the anxiety is so broad that it leads to complete social withdrawal.

People with social phobias often start to use self-destructive behavior patterns to try to reduce their anxiety. This can involve using alcohol or recreational drugs, over-eating or avoiding eating, or self-harming. These only add to the problem, often leading to alcoholism, eating disorders, etc. If you recognize that you need to use or do some specific thing in order to face social situations, you probably need social phobia treatment.

Social Phobia Treatment

Treatment for generalized social anxiety may include psychotherapy and/or antidepressant or sedative medications. In addition, behavioral therapies may be used to treat both specific social phobias and generalized social anxiety disorder.

Most social phobia treatment will involve learning techniques to handle the anxiety that you feel in feared situations. These may include breathing exercises and techniques to improve mindfulness. Mindfulness is the art of keeping your mind in the present moment instead of worrying about things that have not happened yet, and it can be very helpful in dealing with anxiety, depression and other types of negative thought patterns.

Once you have begun to handle fear and anxiety a little better, you will begin to take steps toward overcoming the specific or general fears that are restricting your activities. Don’t worry, these will be very small steps at first. In some cases, it may just be a question of making sure that your boundaries do not become more restrictive than they already are.

So for example if you have a fear of public speaking but you are comfortable speaking at meetings of a small number of familiar work colleagues, then you would use social phobia treatment techniques to ensure that the number of people increased a little when you were feeling good, and never got smaller, even in times of stress.

For example, some people suffer from a panic attack for the first time after being released from hospital after a serious illness or major surgery. This is especially likely if the person has previously been healthy with no hospital admissions. Being sent home to recover, away from the safe situation of the hospital, can be very scary. At the same time the person has been forced to confront their mortality and the fact that they can become sick and helpless. This can lead to a panic attack but in many cases, the person can easily see what has caused the attack and it will not be repeated.

Panic disorder is usually characterized by a number of panic attacks that may seem to happen out of the blue. There is also a general feeling of anxiety about the panic. This is understandable because panic attacks are very frightening, including physical symptoms such as palpitations, chest pains, shortness of breath and dizziness or nausea.

It is important to seek treatment if you have panic disorder symptoms. Many people are ashamed of or embarrassed by their panic attacks and do not want to tell anybody about them. They hope that they will stop of their own accord, or they feel that they should be able to manage them without help, so they keep on suffering. But some assistance is needed. There are self-help programs available online that have had great success in overcoming panic disorder symptoms for many people.

Panic disorder can seriously affect a person’s quality of life. It is not usually possible for a person to prevent or control panic attacks without help, unless they restrict their activity to the point of becoming a recluse. Even then, they may think that they have control over their fears but in fact their lives are ruled by their disorder because it is restricting their lives so severely.

In addition, panic disorder can affect the lives of the people around you. Children in particular are very much influenced by their parents’ fears. If you are afraid to go out of the house in case you have a panic attack, your children are likely to grow up believing that the world is an extremely dangerous place. This does not make for confident, happy kids.

It can also be hard for spouses and partners to understand the disorder and live with the fears and restrictions that an untreated sufferer is likely to impose on their lives. This is especially true if the sufferer is unwilling to accept help. Marriage or relationship breakdown is a very real risk in that situation.

If you think you may be suffering from panic attacks but have not yet had this confirmed medically, it is important to see a doctor to rule out other physical diseases. Many panic disorder symptoms are similar to the symptoms of a heart attack and your doctor will want to check that you do not have any cardio-vascular problems.

Panic definition can be very wide because the word panic has many meanings in general language. Panic is something that can happen to an individual (as in the case of panic attacks) or to a group of people.

The fear that leads to panic can have many causes. It may be physical fear, when we are in a situation of real physical danger such as being caught in a war or riot. It is this kind of situation that the fight-or-flight response was designed to handle, so panic may be the appropriate response in a case like that.

However, the definition of panic also applies in many other situations of extreme stress. One example is a panic run on a bank. Here, a group of investors suddenly becomes extremely afraid that their investment is not safe. They rush to withdraw their money from the bank. Since banks loan out most of their money, they do not hold enough cash to handle the situation of many investors all withdrawing their money at the same time. The result is that even if the bank was solid, it can crash simply as an effect of the panic.

As well as being dangerous to the security of investments, group panic can be physically dangerous. When there are many people crowded into a small space, panic can lead to injury and death. For example, when a fire alarm goes off in a crowded environment, people can be crushed and killed in the stampede for the doors, especially if there are not enough exits to handle the number of people in the building. This can happen even if there is not a fire. Consider again our definition of panic. It is the fear that causes panic. It can happen even if the danger is not real.

However, the danger of panic in an emergency can be reduced by good design of a space as well as by increasing the number of exits. A room that is divided by partitions or even pillars placed in front of the exit will be much safer, because the crowd is split up at a point where injury is most likely to occur.

Panic is not limited to human beings. It is a response that we share with many other mammals. Primitive people used this knowledge for successful hunting of herd animals such as cattle. They would round up a herd and deliberately cause a stampede by frightening the animals. Some would be injured and then they were easily caught. In extreme cases, animals could be incited by panic to jump off cliffs which would injure or kill them.

When people are looking for a panic definition they are often more interested in psychological panic or panic attacks. Please see our other articles for information on panic attacks.

A mild panic attack can sometimes be controlled by concentrating on slowing the breath. This works in some cases because panic attack symptoms usually include shortness of breath, leading to short, fast breaths which in turn cause hyperventilation. Control this can reduce the symptoms of a panic attack and help a person to come out of it more quickly.

When a person is hyperventilating, they expel too much carbon dioxide. This leads to an imbalance in the blood supply that makes the person feel they are not getting enough oxygen – which is actually not the case. This in turn can lead to increased fear and panic, even faster breathing and increased levels of hyperventilation. So shortness of breath can cause a vicious cycle that may eventually lead to dizziness and even fainting.

To counteract this, you can try to control your breathing. This means breathing slowly and deeply.

First, exhale completely. One of the problems with fast, shallow breathing is that a lot of stale air remains in the lungs, so there is not room for enough good fresh air. Put your hand on your belly while you breathe out to make sure that you are expelling the air from the bottom of your lungs.

Then breathe in slowly. What do we mean by slowly? Well, a little more slowly than you would normally breathe in everyday life, and a lot more slowly than you would usually breathe during a panic attack. Try breathing in to a slow count of five or six, then holding it there for a count of three before exhaling equally slowly.

If you have had a panic attack, it is also a good idea to do breathing exercises regularly so that you become familiar with the correct way to breathe during an attack. That way, you are more likely to remember to control your breathing if another attack should strike. Besides this, breathing more slowly in your everyday life may help to reduce your general anxiety levels and prevent future attacks.

It can also help if you tell your spouse, friends or older kids about your panic attacks treatment and especially, explain to them how you need to breathe during an attack. That way, they can help by reminding you and working on breathing along with you any time that they see you going into a panic attack. An extra benefit is that if they breathe slowly with you, it can help them to control the fear that they may feel at the sight of you having a panic attack.

Other forms of panic attacks treatment include cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and psychoanalysis. It is possible to undertake some CBT exercises by yourself as a form of self-help. However, it is better to see a professional in the beginning to have your symptoms diagnosed and have specific behavioral exercises recommended for your individual case.

In terms of medication, the most common treatment for panic disorder symptomized by repeated panic attacks is the benzodiazepine family of drugs. These are often known as anxiolytics because of their success in reducing general anxiety. They work directly on certain parts of the brain to reduce fear and agitation. Alternatively, an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) may be indicated, especially if the person is also suffering from depression. Of course, these drugs may not be right for all cases and they must be prescribed by a doctor.

If you are looking for treatment for panic attacks, it is important to discuss your symptoms with your doctor. This will enable him or her to rule out other serious problems such as heart disease that could otherwise go undiagnosed. They may refer you on for professional panic attacks treatment or you can go with a self-help program that is available for instant download online.

Our bodies are programmed to respond to threatening situations with fear, a huge adrenalin rush and an overwhelming desire either to attack or to run away – the ‘fight or flight’ response.

If you were faced with a man-eating tiger or, more likely, a truck coming toward you at a hundred miles an hour, the fear and panic that you feel would actually help you. It would give you instant reactions, a rush of energy and, sometimes, almost superhuman strength.

So all that is happening during an anxiety attack is that you are getting these life-saving reactions in a situation where they are not necessary or useful. In fact, they are so inappropriate that you may feel that they are ruining your life. They may even add to the stress and anxiety that you constantly feel, by making you worry that you are going crazy. But you are not. You are just having unusually strong reactions to stress.

Panic attacks can be terrifying and often cause a person to withdraw from the world to the extent that you may feel you are not really living any more. The attacks may seem like a massive rock hanging over your head, that may fall on you at any moment. This puts you under a huge amount of stress in most normal life situations, and that stress contributes to more panic attacks. So it’s a vicious cycle.

The first thing to do is to work on truly believing that you can overcome panic attacks. This has two parts: one, understanding that it is possible to overcome panic attacks, which you can learn from talking to or reading about other people who have done it. The second part involves coming to believe that YOU can do it. For this you will probably need help from a therapist or online self-help program.

Once you begin to have more confidence in your ability to recover and get your life back, you have broken the vicious hold that the attacks have on you. At that point, it is important to begin to let go of your ‘safe behaviors’ such as the things that you carry with you or rely on whenever an attack seems possible.

We’re not talking here about giving up medication, of course, but any item or mascot that you carry or need for superstitious reasons. You feel it protects you from attacks, but it really does not. In fact, having that thing just makes you more vulnerable to panic attacks because it reinforces the (incorrect) belief that panic attacks are beyond your control.

When you give up this kind of ‘protection’ it is important to do it gradually. Do not throw out the item that you used to carry everywhere, but leave it somewhere in your home and practice moving a little further from it each day. If you need to go on a long trip, you can still take it.

In the same way, you can gradually reclaim activities that you have given up because you believe they trigger attacks. If you never leave the house, step outside and just stand there for a moment before going back in. Gradually increase this until you are able to walk some distance from the house. At the same time, understand that if you do have an attack, it didn’t happen because you left the house. It happened because of the stress that you were under.

Of course, this means that any technique that you can use to reduce stress will also help you overcome panic attacks. We recommend that you discuss with a therapist or consult a self-help program for exercises in stress reduction, and practice them faithfully every day. This will give you the best chance to overcome panic attacks.

Of course, if you suffer from any noticeable symptoms, it is important to have these checked out by a doctor. You may find that your anxiety is caused by medication that you are taking, or by a disease that might otherwise have gone undiagnosed. The symptoms of panic attacks are often very similar to heart attack symptoms. In many cases this means that somebody having a panic attack ends up in the emergency room unnecessarily, but sometimes it can be the other way around.

Herbs for anxiety can be prescribed by a specialist in herbal medicine, and many times this is the best way to go. However, you can also try some of the herbs listed below to see if they help you in managing your symptoms. Most of them are reported to have calming properties.

Kava

You may see kava recommended as one of the effective herbs for anxiety online. It has helped some people with symptoms of stress and anxiety but it has also been related to liver disease in some research studies.

In the USA, the FDA has issued warnings about kava. In some other countries it is banned. If it is available in your country and you decide to take it, do not exceed the recommended dose and do not take it for more than six months. You should not take it at all if you have any liver disease or condition.

Valerian

Valerian is a well known herb that has been used for centuries in Europe as a sedative and anti-anxiety aid. It is often recommended for people who have trouble sleeping. It also seems to help some people who suffer from migraine headaches.

However, valerian does not suit everybody. Some people appear to lack the ability to digest it, and in that case it can have the opposite effect, causing agitation, stomach pain or headaches. The only way to know if it will suit you is to try it.

Passionflower

Passionflower is another traditional natural remedy for anxiety and insomnia that has been found effective in research studies. It appears to have sedative properties that can calm a person and promote restful sleep without causing drowsiness during the day. Again, there may be side effects for some people, including stomach complaints or palpitations.

Most herbs for anxiety can be purchased either as nutritional supplements in the form of capsules or tablets, or as a herbal tea. Generally, it is easier to control the dosage if you choose nutritional supplements. Herbal teas can vary widely in how much active ingredient they contain.

Please be aware that herbal treatments can affect people in different ways. Most herbal supplements are not recommended for pregnant or nursing women. For safety reasons, herbs for anxiety should not be combined with other sedatives, tranquilizers or sleep medications. In addition, it is important to read the fine print on all supplements and, if you have any diseases or are taking any medication, talk with your doctor before taking any herbs for anxiety to check that there are no contraindications in your case.

This is because generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, is characterized by excessive worries about little things in everyday life, the kind of situations that you know don’t bother most people. In fact, it’s about being worried about almost everything for a long period of time. To be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder symptoms must be ongoing for at least six months.

General anxiety is very common and you will often see it portrayed in books and movies. The early movies of Woody Allen were known for their depiction of characters played by Allen himself who would worry about almost every aspect of their lives. in a movie, this can be very funny, and it can often help sufferers to watch movies like this. You will see that you are not alone, and you will also probably laugh out loud, which is a good antidote to feelings of anxiety.

Most cases of GAD affect a sufferer’s life in a negative way. Even in mild cases, the person is often unwilling to face challenges such as accepting a promotion at work or even accepting a date, because they are totally focused on what might go wrong. They may be too anxious about traveling to take a much-needed vacation.

So what other generalized anxiety disorder symptoms are there, as well as feeling worried by life in general? A GAD sufferer will often be irritable, agitated and find it difficult to concentrate. GAD can also have physical symptoms that can be severe. These may include tiredness, twitching or restlessness, headaches and aching muscles (resulting from constant physical tension), and difficulty swallowing or eating.

Of course, symptoms like these are often worrying in themselves. In fact the symptoms of GAD can add to the problems of the underlying disorder. Often, people who suffer from excessive anxiety find it hard to maintain relationships. Many partners become impatient with the sufferer’s constant worrying, especially if the sufferer is unwilling to get help. This can lead to marriage breakdowns, loss of friends and increased social isolation.

Because of this, any type of anxiety disorder is likely to pull you in an increasing spiral of anxiety. First you are worried by specific things, then you become worried by the fact that you are anxious where other people would not be. So without treatment, anxiety disorder can grow and grow until it affects all aspects of life.

But do not let this negative side of GAD increase your anxiety about having it. Seek treatment or begin a recognized self-help program today. Treatment for GAD can be very successful. Many people find that their generalized anxiety disorder symptoms will diminish fast with treatment, helping them to lead happy, normal lives.

Cognitive behavioral therapy involves changing our mental processes, that is, our thought patterns and judgments. This helps us to overcome those excessive fears and worries that can be so overwhelming for people who suffer from anxiety.

CBT for anxiety may begin by focusing on a sufferer’s thoughts and beliefs about the anxiety itself. People with anxiety disorders often add to their worries by believing that the disorder is their own fault and if they could just stop worrying, everything would be fine. You may have been told this by other well-meaning people in your life, too. In a sense it is true but it is not possible to force yourself to stop worrying, and if you believe that it should be within your control to do this, you will only add to your negative feelings about yourself, causing your anxiety to spiral.

So it is important to understand that anxiety has a purpose in our lives. A person who was never afraid or anxious would be unlikely to plan for the future or exercise caution in risky situations. That kind of person would have been unlikely to live long in a primitive society. Even today, a cautious attitude in some situations is not a bad thing. But to be cautious and fearful about every aspect of life is likely to mean that we are living with a lot of unnecessary stress.

CBT for anxiety takes a behavioral approach to reducing unhelpful fears and anxieties. There are three main areas in which a CBT program or therapist is likely to act:

1. Relaxation training

This is likely to include breathing techniques for dealing with hyperventilation to help you come out of a panic attack, and general relaxation techniques such as meditation or mindfulness.

2. Altering your thought patterns

People who suffer from anxiety disorders usually have negative thought patterns. You can learn to become aware of your thoughts so that you can overturn negative thoughts with a positive affirmation and in time, adopt positive ways of thinking that become automatic.

For example, imagine that your boss tells you that he wants you to attend a conference or a social event. Many people who suffer from anxiety would have a rush of negative thoughts and feelings about this. Instead of succumbing to panic, you can learn to look calmly at exactly what aspects of the event are making you fearful, and consider how you might manage these. You can then consider some of the positive aspects of the event, things that you would look forward to if you were not feeling so anxious, and focus your thoughts on those.

3. Altering your behavior

Most people who suffer from anxiety will restrict their lives to avoid certain situations. Therapists or self-help programs can help you to handle those situations again. Usually, that means setting goals and then taking very small steps toward achieving those goals. In this way, CBT for anxiety can help you to get your life back.

There is fundamentally no difference between anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Some people prefer one name and others prefer the other. The word ‘anxiety’ is often used to describe a less overwhelming, longer-lasting feeling of worry, while ‘panic’ is something short-term and very intense. But when you have a real anxiety attack, it is not a low-level feeling. It is very intense.

The causes of anxiety attacks are very closely related to stress levels. An anxiety or panic attack is simply an inappropriately strong reaction to a stressful situation.

Panic attacks tend to run in families, although it is not known whether this is genetic or whether we pick up fearful attitudes toward the world by being around parents who feel the same way. Whichever view is correct, it is not your fault and not your parents’ fault either. And just because it runs in families doesn’t mean that it is inevitable. You can prevent attacks by getting help, by applying stress reduction techniques, and by avoiding some of the other contributory causes of anxiety attacks.

CONTRIBUTORY CAUSES OF ANXIETY ATTACKS

Life Stresses

Stressful situations such as the loss of a loved one, moving home, a new job, etc can provoke panic attacks in people who have not had them before. While you may not be able to avoid these situations, it often helps just to know that the stress is a factor and you can work on reducing it.

Medications and Substances

Some medications, including Ritalin, SSRI anti-depressants, and even some antibiotics can cause panic attacks in some people. Caffeine, alcohol and some recreational drugs can also cause attacks.

On the other hand, if you stop having some substances very suddenly, the change can provoke attacks. This is especially true of things that act as tranquilizers, such as alcohol and benzodiazepine. So cut down slowly, with advice from your doctor.

Avoidance

If your attacks appear to be triggered by certain normal life situations (such as being in a crowd), and you withdraw from normal human activities to avoid those situations, you will actually increase your general ‘fear of life’ and this will make attacks more likely to occur.

This is a very important point because anybody suffering from panic attacks has a natural wish to avoid triggering situations. But all that happens if you do that, is that you will start to have attacks in situations that did not cause you anxiety before. Your world slowly becomes more and more restricted until attacks are happening for no clear reason, even if you stay home 24/7.

Another thing that happens if you start to avoid certain situations is that you will unconsciously come to believe that those situations will always cause panic attacks – and then that belief will actually cause an attack.

So for example, if the first time you have a panic attack is on a bus, and then you avoid buses because you are afraid that you will have another attack, you will be programming your mind to associate buses with panic attacks. Then you will probably start to have an attack every time you go anywhere near a bus. But if you truly understand that it was not the bus that was responsible for your first attack, but the stress that was affecting your whole life at that time, you can probably get right back on a bus and not have another attack.

Of course, it helps to have some assistance or training to work through these issues, so do not hesitate to look for a therapist or self-help program. A program can help you deal with the negative thinking and fearful attitude to life that is probably more important than any of the other causes of anxiety attacks.