(c) 2008 Sandy Adamson

Before we dive into learning the different types of panic attacks, it may be worthwhile to first clarify the difference between anxiety and panic. In our daily communications, people tend to use these two terms interchangeably without realising their difference. Sure, these two have lots of in common with respect to their symptoms, but panic attacks usually last only a short while, though more intense. As a contrast, anxiety strikes you more gradually, is less intense, but lasts longer.

Based on whether a panic attack connects to a triggering situation and how it connects to such situations, panic attacks are grouped into three types:

1. Unexpected Panic Attacks

This type of attack is often associated with panic disorder. It occurs spontaneously without any clear reasons, and irrespective of whether you are relaxing or working. This means that we can hardly relate the occurrence of a spontaneous attack to any specific situation or place. As you may have seen in the movies, people can be awakened from sleep with this type of attack.

2. Situationally-bound Panic Attacks

As its name suggests, this type of panic attack is triggered by a specific situation. For example, if you fear flying or public speaking, exposure to these situations will result in immediate panic attacks. This ‘cued’ attack is rarely experienced in panic disorder.

3. Situationally-predisposed Panic Attacks

This type of panic attack is similar to the above one in that it is also triggered by a specific situation. However, the difference is that the attacks only sometimes occur and may not always occur immediately after exposure to the feared situation. For example, if flying is your feared situation, there are times when you take a flight without having a panic attack. However, in some other times, you do not suffer panic attack until you finish your journey for some while. In other words, you are predisposed to having attacks while taking flights, but the attacks are not a sure response to the fear of flying. People with panic disorder may experience this type of attack.

As you may probably understand, some panic attacks are just phobias over a particular event or place, but others may be truly medical conditions which you should take seriously. It is reported that approximately 19 million people in the United States are panic attack sufferers and they experience a variety of symptoms during panic attacks. Many, however, do not take panic attacks seriously or believe they deserve treatment as a medical condition. It is true that many people who have experience of panic attacks never have further episodes or complications. However, you should keep in mind that chronic occurrence of panic attacks can be a sign of panic disorder, which deserve immediate medical help. Quite often, major disorders could prevent a sufferer from pursuing normal daily routines.

With different types of panic attacks and their different levels of complications, various ways of medical interventions are used. Those commonly used ways of treament include traditional medicine, behavorial therapy, and alternative medicines. In many other instances, however, people are able to live with their panic attacks or use self-help techniques to get out of the situations.

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Panic attacks are characterized by a sudden episode which seems to cause a hindrance to our normal everyday lives. While panic attacks are often ignored as a normal occurrence, it needs to be understood that panic attacks are the root cause for various ailments, besides of course, a dull, listless and terrifying life. Taking cue from the above statement, let us now throw some light on the lesser known secrets behind your panic attacks.

It May Have Been Be Triggered From A Past Episode

Anxiety panic attacks are known to be triggered owing to a past experience. It is a kind of trauma which has been witnessed in the past but is yet to be forgotten by our brain. When a person suddenly recalls this past episode through a seemingly visual appearance, he/she is said to have suffered a panic attack. It is interesting to note that over 95% of the total patients suffering from panic attacks seem to have developed a fancy towards panicking unnecessarily and have not witnessed a life threatening situation before.

Anxiety Panic Attacks Have A Short Life Span

Whenever you are said to be suffering from an anxiety panic attack, you are in reality panicking for about a minute or two. Thereafter, you tend to simmer down and within half an hour to an hour from the time you suffered a stress panic attack, you are back to your normal self again. It has also been studied that three fourth of the patients suffering from a stress panic attack are women. While treating panic attacks, it has been noticed that most patients fall in the age group of 20 to 30 years. Hence, these attacks seldom affect teenagers and people who are over the age of 40.

Panic Attack Symptoms an Be Detected By The Patient

Panic attack symptoms can easily be studied by the patient. In case the patient is suffering from a raging heartbeat, is having difficulty in breathing, is terrified to the extent of being paralyzed with fear, is nervous and shaking, is feeling lightheaded, is choking, has chest pains, has a tingling sensation in the toes and fingers and feels as though he/she is about to go crazy or die, the patient is said to be suffering from a panic related attack. Causes of panic attacks can be plenty but if you suffer from any one of these symptoms, you need to get yourself treated through a tried and tested natural therapy.

The Main Reasons Behind Anxiety Disorders

While sleep panic attacks are known to be caused by a past trauma, most attacks which exhibit a high anxiety level are said to have been caused by a mental trauma which seemingly has left a lasting impression in the mind of the sufferer. These attacks often force the patient to rush straight to a medical center. Nonetheless, these attacks persist several times a month and may last for two to five minutes at a stretch. A large population of the American population is stated to suffer from severe panic attacks and is need for immediate medical assistance.

Medication Is Not The Cure For Anxiety Disorders

Most people who suffer from panic related attacks rush straight to the nearest medical center and try to cure panic attacks through sleep inducing drugs and anti depressants. Unfortunately, these drugs simply put you to sleep without even analyzing your disorder, let alone trying to cure it. In such a scenario, you need to adopt a tried and tested natural therapy which would eradicate the root cause of your anxiety attacks. If you wish to be free of these attacks, you need to be willing to forget your traumatic experience from within. Hence, a natural therapy is considered a permanent cure for your anxiety related problems.

About the Author:

Panic attack is a period of intensive fear that is often abrupt and is often a sign of mental and emotional distress.

In some individuals they appear without apparent cause and most often the distressed individual reports loosing control of oneself. Often they are provoked or triggered by a sense of trying to escape from someone or from the place where the attack started. Although in normal cases, the individual when subjected to a stimulus often resorts to a fight syndrome as a form of protection, in panic attacks, the individual employs the flight syndrome. Often episodes of panic attack come with chest pain and shortness of breath with a tunnel vision even after seeking medical advice or attention.

Panic attack is different from other anxiety disorders because of its sudden intensity and its occurrence in individuals. Often panic attacks are psychological conditions but may not be a sign of a mental disorder. At least in normal individuals, a panic attack may occur in a year particularly in persons with anxiety and phobias. As a result of a triggering factor, they are often short-lived and will subside once the triggering factor is eliminated. In some individuals exposed to a panic attack, one attack may trigger another leading to a nervous breakdown.

Scientific studies point out to the imbalance of serotonin and norepinephrine as the culprits in the incidence of panic attacks where the neurological function is subjected to a chemical imbalance. Often genetics play a role in the disorder and has been found to run in families.

Common symptoms include trembling, palpitations, and shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, dizziness, hyperventilation and tingling sensations. Others develop a sense of being choked or smothered. In repeated and unprovoked panic attacks a sign or manifestation of a panic disorder may ensue. However panic attacks are also associated with other common anxiety disorders like in persons with phobias whose exposure to their feared object or scenario trigger an attack.

Panic attacks are potentially disabling, but it can be controlled. The various symptoms of a panic attack are often mistaken as a cardiac attack or a life-threatening medical illness. This misconception often increases the incidence of future panic attacks. People often submit to the hospital emergency rooms when they are having a panic attack, and extensive medical tests are performed to rule out other conditions, which creates further anxiety.

Treatment for panic attacks includes medications and psychotherapy. Normally the mental health practitioners assisting you in the treatment of panic disorder are psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. To submit for a medical treatment for panic disorder however, one should visit a psychiatrist. Psychotherapy may be provided by a clinical or counseling psychologist. Medications can also be used to break any psychological connection between a specific phobia and panic attacks.

Common medications prescribed are antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs in anticipation or during a panic attack.

Some psychologists believe that usual exposure to the phobia trigger with medical assistance can often break the phobia-panic pattern, allowing people to gradually adjust to the stressor without the help of medications. However, minor phobias that develop as a result of a panic attack can be prevented without medication through behavioral therapy or simply by assisted exposure.

Under a combination of therapy and medications, the best results are often seen. For some, a fair improvement may be noticed in a short period of less than 8 weeks. Finding the right pair of medications and mental health professional takes more effort. Appropriate treatment by an experienced professional can often prevent panic attacks or at least reduce its severity and frequency.

Other panic attacks caused by an underlying emotional problem like depression, alcoholism and drug addiction are more frequent in people with panic disorder. The underlying problem needs to be treated before the total panic disorder is completely or at least partially eliminated.

Most less severe and less recurrent attacks submitted to the emergency rooms are advised to breath in paper bags to help boost the carbon dioxide levels in the body.

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