What are panic attacks for people prone to them? panic attacks can represent a debillitating condition that prevents them from leading a normal life. Though they occur in varying degrees of intensity and frequency, panic attacks are often frightening experiences that contribute to the sufferer avoiding public or social situations in an attempt to prevent them from happening. Understanding the causes of panic attacks, and the individual triggers that intensify a person’s sensitivity, can allow those prone to the attacks to control them, which could greatly improve their quality of life.
What are Panic Attacks ?
Panic attacks are some of the most unnerving and unpleasant experiences a person can endure. They have a very quick onset, but tend to be relatively brief. Most often an attack will reach its peak intensity within about ten minutes and all symptoms will subside over a few hours. For those that have never experienced a panic attack the first may result in several days of recovery, but it is largely emotional in nature.
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Those prone to frequent panic attacks, which is generally an indication of a chronic panic disorder, may experience additional symptoms between major attacks. These include anticpatory anxiety during which the sufferer is fearing the onset of an actual attack. This is what leads many with panic disorder to greatly reduce social contact or new experiences, as they may trigger a dreaded panic attack. Some may also experience smaller attacks, which do not feature the full range of symptoms and are briefer, periodically.
The Symptoms of a Panic Attack
Each person will experience a panic attack slightly differently. For many people the symptoms of a panic attack cause even greater anxiety, which puts them into a loop of deeper and deeper panic as the symptoms escalate. Some symptoms are similar to other emergent medical situations, which can cause sufferers, particularly those who have not previously experienced a panic attack, to seek emergency medical treatment via a rescue squad or the emergency room. The most common symptoms of a panic attacks are as follows:
- Trembling, often to a degree of violent shivering or shuddering
- Shortness of breath
- Erratic heartbeat
- Irrational thoughts
- Chest tightness
- Tunnel vision
- Nausea
- Hyperventilation
- Faintness
- Intense fear
- Numbness or tingling
Causes of Panic Attacks
Though it is not always clear why individual panic attacks occur, or why some people are more prone to them than others, it is known that the attacks are a response by the sympathetic nervous system. They are closely linked to the in-born fight or flight reaction in which the body responds to an impending threat or attack by flooding the nervous system with hormones such as adrenaline that prepare the person to fight, or inspire him flee. Panic attacks are frequently a component of panic or anxiety disorders, but they can be experienced by anybody. People prone to panic attacks tend to have specific triggers that they know will likely cause an attack. These may be overstimulation of the senses (such as bright lights, intense temperature fluctuation, loud or peristant sounds, strong smells or even aggressive flavors), social situations or exposure to something that may remind them of a traumatic or stressful circumstance. Other causes include intense stress, embarrassment, grief or shock.
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Treatments of Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are generally mild, though they may not seem that way during the actual attack, and require little to no treatment. A person experiencing a panic attack should be approached calmly and carefully, and should be reassured of his safety and security. Very intense panic attacks, especially those that are chronic or escalate in intensity, may require medical treatment to ease the effects as well as help prevent further attacks. This treatment may include medically administered tranquilizers, anti-anxiety medications and behavioral therapy. Many people benefit from learning coping skills that allow them to monitor and control their own panic responses in day to day life.
