What’s a panic attack?

A panic attack is an acute increase of anxiety that resembles a heart attack. When you experience a panic attack, you feel as if you are going to die, or that you are losing your mind, that there’s something wrong with you and it will never end. Pounding or racing heart, breathing difficulties, sweating or chills, weakness, dizziness, nausea, and tingly hands are some of the symptoms that people suffering from panic experience while having an attack. If you ever had these symptoms and your MD has ruled out heart problems or any other medical condition, you may suffer from a Panic Disorder.

It may have started out of the blue, with no apparent connection to anything or anyone, but there is definitely a trigger, conscious or subconscious, that started that fear. Because that is what panic is: Fear of something terrible about to happen. We don’t logically think that something bad will happen, we just sense it. Our brain senses it and reacts to it as if it was real. It is based on a prediction that may or may not be accurate, but the brain sends the signal to the rest of the body that whatever is causing the fear will definitely happen. That prediction is based on an inaccurate thought, a belief that feels real, but it is just a guess, a possibility, and, in most cases, a rare possibility.

With a combination of behavioral and cognitive techniques, you will learn to manage that anxiety to the point of eliminating current and future attacks completely. You will become in charge of your emotions, dictating when it’s ok and when it’s not ok to act out and life will feel manageable again.