What is a Panic Attack?
Panic attacks are sudden surges of intense fear or anxiety that come on quickly and reach their peak within minutes. They can be incredibly frightening and debilitating, often leaving people feeling like they’re losing control or even dying.
During a panic attack, the the brain’s fight-or-flight centre becomes hyperactive, mistaking harmless sensations as threats and triggering a massive fight-or-flight response. (Update added post publication of this article – Recent scientific research suggests that there may be another circuit in the brain, outside of the fight-or-flight centre (the Amygdala) that may be involved. The jury is still out on this one. See references.)
What are the Symptoms of a Panic Attack?
Symptoms of a panic attack vary from person to person, but most panic attacks are characterised by several of the following physical and mental symptoms
Mental Symptoms
- Overwhelming anxiety – You may feel so overwhelmed that you cannot think straight.
- Sensation of impending doom – You may have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen, even if you can’t identify what it is.
- Detachment from reality – You may feel that you are somehow detached from what is going on around you. You may even feel as if you are outside your own body.
- Loss of control: You may feel like you have lost control of your mind and/or body
Physical Symptoms
- Racing heart or heart palpitations
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Chest pain
- Lightheadedness
- Nausea
- Trembling muscles
- Tingling sensation
- Feelings of heat or cold
It’s important to note that many people will only experience some of these symptoms, and the severity of symptoms can vary from person to person and from attack to attack.
Is it a Heart Attack or Panic Attack?
The symptoms of a heart attack (more properly known as a myocardial infarction) can be very similar to the symptoms of a panic attack. If you are in any doubt whatsoever – call for the emergency services – it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Don’t worry … there are plenty of people who go to the hospital emergency department with what they think might be a heart attack, only to find that it was a panic attack. The staff there are used to it.
If you have panic attacks quite often, you will start to understand the symptoms that you get and learn to recognise them for yourself.
What Triggers a Panic Attack?
Panic attacks can come out of the blue. It may not be possible to identify what triggers them. Some people may be able to spot a pattern in their panic attacks and notice what triggers them. For many, however, they just happen at apparently random times.
Panic attacks are more likely to occur in times of extreme mental or physical stress. The pressure of having a large amount of critical things to do may trigger a panic attack. A traumatic event, or going back to the place where a traumatic event took place could be the trigger. Extreme physical effort, sudden large changes in temperature, or taking too many stimulants like caffeine or cocaine could be the cause.
What Can I Do When I Have a Panic Attacks
There are a number of things that you can do when you realise you are having a panic attack. If you have panic attacks quite often, you should practice these regularly when you are not having a panic attack. When you have a panic attack, your conscious thinking often gets overwhelmed and so if you have practiced these beforehand, it will be much easier to do so when the panic attack happens.
- Slow your breathing down – for example, breath in for the count of 4 and then out for the count of 6. When practising, keep this up for a couple of minutes so that you get used to the amount of air you need to breath in without hyperventilating.
- Muscle relaxation – consciously go through each major muscle group in your body one-by-one and relax it. For example, start with your shoulders, then neck, arms, hands, chest, stomach, upper and lower legs.
- Ground yourself – consciously look around you and notice things that you can see around you, naming them one by one. Then listen to the things you can hear and name them. Then notice the things you can feel (the floor on the soles of your feet, the temperature of the air around you etc.).
How Do I Avoid Getting Panic Attacks in the First Place?
Panic attacks are a form of anxiety, which is often associated with a lot of unresolved stress. Once you deal with the underlying causes of anxiety and stress, the panic attacks will resolve themselves. You don’t need to deal with the panic attacks as a specific problem as they will gradually diminish and disappear completely once the underlying anxiety and stress is under control.
If you know what triggers the panic attack, you can, of course, attempt to avoid the triggers – but this does not tackle the underlying stress and anxiety.
There are three basic approaches for dealing with anxiety and stress:
- Mental health hygiene – changing your lifestyle to include more mental health hygiene activities such as getting enough sleep, doing at least a little exercise, eating healthily, avoiding taking on too much, having positive interactions with other people and the like.
- Medication – medication for panic attacks is usually prescribed in the form of either antidepressants (which, as well as helping with depression, help with anxiety), beta blockers (which block the release of stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline), or sedatives (which slow down the activity of the brain).
- Therapy – there are various forms of therapy – hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are two of the most common and can be highly effective at treating anxiety.
How Do I Get Help From You?
Call me or send me a message if you want hypnotherapy to help with panic attacks. I help all sorts of people with anxiety and stress-related issues, using hypnotherapy to help them regain control of their lives and get back onto the right path. My clinic is in Fleet, Hampshire and I also work online.
References
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