Note
The topic panic attack belongs to our topic family “AnxietyAnxiety Disorder”. You can find general information on this topic at
- Fear
Synonyms
anxiety, panic disorder, panic
Definition
A panic attack is the sudden occurrence of a physical and mental alarm reaction of unclear cause, usually lasting only a few minutes, without appropriate external cause. The affected person is often not aware of the existence of a panic attack. The behavioral pattern of panic is inherent in every human being and serves in earlier stages of evolution as a source of energy in life-threatening situations.
Epidemiology
The probability of developing a panic disorder in life is between 1.5 and 3% (about half of the patients also meet the criteria of agoraphobia). Women are about 2 times more likely to develop the disorder than men. Usually, the first occurrence of the panic disorder occurs between the ages of 25 and 35.
However, patients undergoing treatment are usually several years older, as they have to go a long way through the physical examination and diagnosis. The diagnosis of panic attack panic disorder should be made by a psychologist, a psychiatrist or a therapist experienced in the field. A particular difficulty in the diagnosis is that both patients and the treating physicians often suspect physical causes behind the symptoms. In most cases there are no abnormalities in the physical diagnosis, so that the person suffering from a panic disorder hears again and again that he is physically healthy. This makes him feel helpless and abandoned.
Symptoms
The main feature of panic disorder is the so-called panic attacks. These “attack” the patient, often out of the blue, and usually cannot be attributed to any particular situation. A panic attack usually begins with some symptoms that the patient often already knows from previous attacks.
These symptoms are interpreted by the patient as threatening or even life-threatening. Through the feeling of threat, the fear increases again. This leads to a kind of “vicious circle”.
The typical physical symptoms of a panic attack are However, there are also other causes that lead to a feeling of tightness and pressure in the chest. This type of attack usually increases within the first 10 minutes after it begins. (some increase up to 30 minutes).
After this time, the symptoms usually flatten out again and calm down slowly. However, the problem is made more difficult by the so-called anticipatory anxiety that follows a panic attack. This is the fear of having another panic attack.
It is also called the fear of anxiety. The frequency with which such anxiety attacks occur can vary greatly. Theoretically, months can pass between 2 attacks, but sometimes it is only a few hours.
If you now imagine that such a threatening panic attack happens to a person in a bus or in a café, you can imagine that a patient will avoid such situations in the future. He “learns” so to speak that this situation could become dangerous for him. But also places and situations in which he has never suffered a panic attack can be avoided out of fear.
It is often enough for the patient to imagine that in the case of a panic attack, escape from this situation could be difficult or embarrassing. This problem is called agoraphobia. This means from the Greek translated “fear of the market place”.
This has been and still is often misunderstood today. It is not only the fear of large and wide squares, but is understood as a fear of certain situations, as they are also found in the marketplace. Crowds of people, airplanes and elevators etc.
can also become the content of an agoraphobia. Specifically named, the patient has the fear that in the situations he/she considers threatening, one or more of the physical symptoms mentioned above could occur and that help might not be available quickly enough or that there might be no possibility to escape. For the patient himself, not only the panic attack itself is bad, but also the helplessness he experiences in connection with the occurrence and influence of these attacks.The only possible strategy for him, as mentioned above, is to avoid threatening situations.
This leads to the fact that certain things are only done in the company of others, certain means of transport are no longer used etc. The occurrence of agoraphobia is also possible without a preceding panic disorder. Here, the fear of fear is the main driving force that leads to avoidance.
Night-time panic attacks can be very stressful for the person affected. You can find all the important information on this subject at Nocturnal panic attacks – what is behind them? This type of attack usually increases within the first 10 minutes after it begins.
(some attacks can last up to 30 minutes). After this time, the symptoms usually flatten out again and calm down slowly. However, the problem is made more difficult by the so-called anticipatory anxiety that follows a panic attack.
This is the fear of having another panic attack. It is also called the fear of anxiety. The frequency with which such anxiety attacks occur can vary greatly.
Theoretically, months can pass between 2 attacks, but sometimes it is only a few hours. If you now imagine that such a threatening panic attack happens to a person in a bus or in a café, you can imagine that a patient will avoid such situations in the future. He “learns” so to speak that this situation could become dangerous for him.
But also places and situations in which he has never suffered a panic attack can be avoided out of fear. It is often enough for the patient to imagine that in the case of a panic attack, escape from this situation could be difficult or embarrassing. This problem is called agoraphobia.
This means from the Greek translated “fear of the market place”. This has been and still is often misunderstood today. It is not only the fear of large and wide squares, but is understood as a fear of certain situations, as they are also found in the marketplace.
Crowds of people, airplanes and elevators etc. can also become the content of an agoraphobia. Specifically named, the patient has the fear that in the situations he/she considers threatening, one or more of the physical symptoms mentioned above could occur and that help might not be available quickly enough or that there might be no possibility to escape.
For the patient himself, not only the panic attack itself is bad, but also the helplessness he experiences in connection with the occurrence and influence of these attacks. The only possible strategy for him is therefore, as already mentioned above, to avoid threatening situations. This leads to the fact that certain things are only done in the company of others, certain means of transport are no longer used etc.
The occurrence of agoraphobia is also possible without a preceding panic disorder. Here, the fear of fear is the main driving force that leads to avoidance. Night-time panic attacks can be very stressful for the person affected. You can find all the important information on this subject at Nocturnal panic attacks – what is behind them?
- Accelerated respiration up to respiratory distress, often accompanied by a feeling of tightness in the chest.
- Dizziness, which is often accompanied by a feeling of impending powerlessness.
- Nausea, diarrhea, flatulence, abdominal pain
- Accelerated heartbeat with increased perception of heart stumbles (palpitations)
- Sweating, trembling
- Hot flushes, cold showers
- Fear of loss of control, fear of death
- High blood pressure
- The feeling that the world around you becomes “unreal”, like in a dream (derealization experience)
