Panic Attacks

We have all known the feeling of panic " an intense sensation of anxiety or fear " but it usually corrus with an appropriate stimulus such as a frightening situation. For example, swerving to avoid an animal on the road while driving produces the familiar feeling of palpitation, increased alert and awareness and emotional rush, the "flight or fight reaction".

But for five percent of the population, episodes of panic can occur without any cause whatsoever. These so-called panic attacks come on anytime, reading a newspaper or eating lunch, watching TV or chatting, without any external stresses or causes. Any attack starts with an intense feeling of dread, followed quickly by symptoms of shortness of breath, lightheadedness and nausea. Your heart races, sometimes irregularly, you feel intensely afraid and sweaty. You"re overwhelmed by the conviction that something awful is about to happen. Sometimes your face or hands begin to tingle. You may feel as if you"ll pass out. Often you see yourself outside of your body looking back on yourself as if from afar. The attacks are intense, sudden and terrifying. They last for fifteen or twenty minutes " though they may be longer, and they may be recurring " a condition known as panic disorder.

Panic attacks are often associated with another anxiety symptom, agoraphobia, the intense and irrational fear of being in a crowded or enclosed space. Agora is the Greek work for marketplace. Being in a situation like a market, with its hustle and bustle crowded with vendors and buyers, produces a panic like state, an intense anxiety. Sometimes panic disorder and agoraphobia are so severe that the person avoids social contacts, even hiding inside his home to try to prevent the intense unpleasant feelings.

Panic disorder and agoraphobia are examples of what are called anxiety disorders. Anxiety " the state of being worried or troubled as you consider what may happen in the future is not a bad thing. It allows us to prepare ourselves for what might occur. Sometimes, however, such as in panic disorder, the anxiety is no longer helpful, it is a destructive force limiting our performance and enjoyment of life. The good thing is that anxiety disorders such as panic attacks are very treatable " usually by a combination of medicines and psychological therapy.

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Panic Attacks