What Causes Sudden Panic Attacks

Panic Attack Or Heart Attack

The symptoms of a panic attack can be similar to those of a heart attack. The Ada app can help you check your symptoms. or find out more about how it works.

It is common for people experiencing a panic attack to become convinced that they are having a heart attack during the episode. Although this may be related to the distressing thoughts that accompany a panic attack, emergency medical services should be called if a heart attack is suspected, as â unlike a panic attack â a heart attack requires prompt medical attention and can be life-threatening.

Key differences between a heart attack and a panic attack include:

Despite being able to identify these differences, it is advisable to always seek medical attention if the affected person:

• Has a history of heart attacks
• Meets the risk criteria for a heart attack, such as high blood pressure, being overweight, getting limited physical exercise
• Has never had a panic attack before

If one is not deemed to be at risk of a heart attack, psychotherapeutic techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy may be recommended in order to help the affected person overcome any long-term anxiety about having a heart attack. This will help prevent a fear of having a heart attack from manifesting in, or forming the basis of, future panic attacks.

How Is Panic Disorder Diagnosed

Medical or mental health providers can diagnose panic disorder. Your provider may diagnose panic disorder when you have repeated panic attacks and you:

• Persistently worry about having more panic attacks or their consequences.
• Obsess about losing control during a panic attack.
• Change your behaviors to avoid situations that may trigger a panic attack.

Panic Attacks I Turned My Mental Health Crisis Into A Mental Health Triumph

Although it’s taken me a long time I have learned I am a strong person who has the potential to help others.

You might find that you become scared of going out alone or to public places because you’re worried about having another panic attack. If this fear becomes very intense, it may be called agoraphobia. See our pages on types of phobia for more information.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I just wanted to get out, to go somewhere else, but I couldn’t because I was on a train.

You May Like: Fear Of Long Words Phobia Name

What Are The Symptoms Of Panic Disorder

Panic attacks can happen in other types of anxiety disorders, too. Generally, if you have 4 or more panic attacks and if you always worry about having another, you have panic disorder. Symptoms of a panic attack may include:

• Pounding heart
• Chills or hot flashes
• Chest pain and other symptoms that mimic a heart attack

Panic disorder can be upsetting and disabling. An attack can last from a few minutes to an hour or sometimes longer.

The symptoms of a panic attack may look like other mental health conditions. Always see your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.

What Are Panic Attacks And Panic Disorder

A panic attack is a sudden, intense fear or anxiety that may make you short of breath or dizzy or make your heart pound. You may feel out of control. Some people believe that they are having a heart attack or are about to die. An attack usually lasts from 5 to 20 minutes. But it may last even longer. You have the most anxiety about 10 minutes after the attack starts. If these attacks happen often, they are called a panic disorder.

Panic attacks can be scary and so bad that they get in the way of your daily activities. Treatment can help most people have fewer symptoms or even stop the attacks.

More women than men get panic attacks.

Recommended Reading: Sesquipedalophobia Definition

Panic Attack Signs And Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of a panic attack develop abruptly and usually reach their peak within 10 minutes. They rarely last more than an hour, with most ending within 20 to 30 minutes. Panic attacks can happen anywhere and at any time. You may have one while youre in a store shopping, walking down the street, driving in your car, or even sitting on the couch at home.

Panic attack symptoms include:

• Shortness of breath or hyperventilation
• Heart palpitations or racing heart
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Feeling unreal or detached from your surroundings

• Sweating
• Feeling dizzy, light-headed, or faint
• Numbness or tingling sensations
• Fear of dying, losing control, or going crazy

Is it a heart attack or a panic attack?

Most of the symptoms of a panic attack are physical, and many times these symptoms are so severe that you may think youre having a heart attack. In fact, many people suffering from panic attacks make repeated trips to the doctor or the emergency room in an attempt to get treatment for what they believe is a life-threatening medical problem. While its important to rule out possible medical causes of symptoms such as chest pain, elevated heart rate, or difficulty breathing, its often panic that is overlooked as a potential causenot the other way around.

The Causes Of Unexpected Panic Attacks

Expected panic attacks are typically associated with a specific trigger such as crowds, flying or exams, whereas unexpected panic attacks have no apparent trigger and can seem to happen for no reason.

It is not yet known what causes panic attacks but certain factors may play an important role, including genetics, mental health conditions, major stress or having a predisposition to stress.

Panic attacks are typically experienced as a result of misinterpreting physical symptoms of anxiety. Heart palpitations may be mistaken for symptoms of a heart attack, breathlessness or feeling faint may be taken as a sign that a person is collapsing or dying, and the racing thoughts can lead a person to think that they are losing control of their mind.

These misinterpretations which a person may be unaware that they are doing can trigger a panic attack, which seems to appear out of the blue.

Read Also: Phobia Psychology Definition

Signs And Symptoms Of Panic Disorder

While many people experience just one or two panic attacks without further episodes or complicationsand theres little reason to worry if thats yousome people go on to develop panic disorder. Panic disorder is characterized by repeated panic attacks, combined with major changes in behavior or persistent anxiety over having further attacks.

You may be suffering from panic disorder if you:

• Experience frequent, unexpected panic attacks that arent tied to a specific situation
• Worry a lot about having another panic attack
• Are behaving differently because of the panic attacks, such as avoiding places where youve previously panicked

While a single panic attack may only last a few minutes, the effects of the experience can leave a lasting imprint. If you have panic disorder, the recurrent panic attacks take an emotional toll. The memory of the intense fear and terror that you felt during the attacks can negatively impact your self-confidence and cause serious disruption to your everyday life. Eventually, this leads to the following panic disorder symptoms:

Anticipatory anxiety Instead of feeling relaxed and like your normal self in between panic attacks, you feel anxious and tense. This anxiety stems from a fear of having future panic attacks. This fear of fear is present most of the time, and can be extremely disabling.

How To Help Someone Having A Panic Attack

Seeing a friend or a loved one experience a panic attack can be a frightening experience. It can also be challenging to feel powerless to help that person and to watch them suffer. While youre unlikely to be able to stop your loved ones panic attack in its tracks, there are things you can do and say to help them through the experience.

Primarily, it is important to stay calm, patient, and understanding. Help your friend wait out the panic attack by encouraging them to take deep breaths in for four seconds and out for four seconds. Stay with them and assure them that this attack is only temporary and they will get through it. You can also remind them that they can leave the environment they are in if they would feel more comfortable elsewhere and try to engage them in light-hearted conversation.

Once the panic attack is over and the person has returned to a calm state, encourage them to seek help from a mental health professional at their earliest convenience, if they havent already. You can help them further by assisting with the search for a licensed professional, researching coping techniques online, and looking for self-help books that might be useful.

Recommended Reading: Phobia Mean

How To Handle A Panic Attack

It’s important not to let your fear of panic attacks control you.

Panic attacks always pass and the symptoms are not a sign of anything harmful happening. Tell yourself that anxiety is causing the symptoms you’re experiencing.

Ride out the attack. Try to keep doing things. If possible, don’t leave the situation until the anxiety has subsided.

Confront your fear. If you don’t run away from it, you’re giving yourself a chance to discover that the thing that you are fearful of happening is very unlikely to happen. Or be as bad as your anxiety predicts it will be.

As the anxiety begins to pass, start to focus on your surroundings and continue to do what you were doing before. Remind yourself, the thing you panicked would happen didn’t happen. Or wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be.

If you’re having a short, sudden panic attack, it can be helpful to have someone with you. They can reassure you that it will pass and the symptoms are nothing to worry about.

Fear Of Having An Attack

Naturally, when youre afraid of something, youll be more likely to attract it. One of the most common causes of panic attacks is actually the fear of experiencing one. The more you think about it, the more you will worry, and the more anxious you will be in general.

So whenever you start worrying for no reason, I encourage you to break your thought pattern by focusing on something else your surroundings, what you see, what you hear, or even a text message on your phone.

Recommended Reading: The Phobia For Long Words

Causes Of Panic Attacks

Anxiety disorder is the principal cause of all panic attacks. According to the National Institute of Mental Health , approximately 40 million adults in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 51 are diagnosed as being affected by anxiety disorders. However, the total number of people who are affected by anxiety disorders â and who are therefore predisposed to experience a panic attack â is thought to be far greater.

Panic is the most acute form of anxiety. As such, a panic attack is caused by heightened anxiety, whereby the body undergoes physiological changes due to oneâs thoughts, entering into a state called fight or flight mode. A person may not be consciously aware of the thoughts that induce this state, as it can be caused by the brainâs background activity.

Fight or flight mode is an automatic response to danger, rapidly preparing the body for physical activity, such as running away from or fighting off a predator. In a panic attack, however, there is usually no immediate physical threat to escape from.

Physiological changes associated with fight or flight mode, that may contribute to a panic attack, include:

• Increased metabolic rate
• Loss of hearing and dilation of pupils
• Relaxation of the bladder and sphincters

Support For The Family

When a person has panic attacks, his or her entire family is affected.

If someone in your family has panic attacks, you may feel frustrated, overworked , or socially isolated because the person restricts family activities. These feelings are common.

Family therapy, a type of counselling that involves the entire family, may help.

For more information, see:

• Helping Someone During a Panic Attack.

You May Like: Pristique For Depression

Don’t Fight A Panic Attack

Fighting a panic attack can often make it worse. Trying to resist the attack and finding you’re unable to can increase your sense of anxiety and panic.

Instead, during a panic attack, reassure yourself by accepting that although it may seem embarrassing, and your symptoms may be difficult to deal with, the attack isn’t life-threatening. Focus on the fact that the attack will evetually end and try your best to let it pass.

Example : A Concerning Level Of Anxiety

The second example describes an individual experiencing worry and depending on the level of distress and functional impairment caused, may indicate that treatment for anxiety might be helpful.

Worry is a mental activity that, somewhat counterintuitively, functions as an anxiety avoidance strategy, though its one that doesnt work very well. Its hard to simply stop worrying.

Typically, when individuals find themselves stuck in a worry cycle, learning acceptance and mindfulness skills from acceptance-based behavior therapy can be useful.

Also Check: Dehydration Causes Anxiety

Support Groups And Self

Support groups are often good places to share information, problem-solving tips, and emotions related to panic disorder.

Online discussion forums and websites may also offer information and support.

Self-help materials can help you learn to cope with panic disorder or anxiety. These include instructional videos, books, and audio materials.

A Response To The Challenge Of Emerging Adulthood

The third reason why people develop panic attacks is that they often experienced a period of high stress and stressful changes in the year or so prior to the onset of the panic attacks. These might have been bad events, such as feeling trapped in a bad job or relationship, or experiencing the loss of family and/or friends. Or they may have had a lot of changes which weren’t bad in themselves – finishing school, changing jobs, getting married, moving, buying/selling a home, having babies, etc. – but which had a cumulative stressful effect on the person to the point that he/she found it hard to cope with them all.

It’s interesting to note that, for most people who develop panic attacks, it usually begins in their twenties or thirties – the years of establishing an independent life for yourselves when you are most likely to experience these kinds of changes.

You May Like: Irrational Fear Of Bees

When Might I Have Panic Attacks

Panic attacks happen at different times for everyone. Some people have one panic attack then don’t ever experience another, or you might find that you have them regularly, or several in a short space of time. You might notice that particular places, situations or activities seem to trigger panic attacks. For example, they might happen before a stressful appointment.

Most panic attacks last between 5 to 20 minutes. They can come on very quickly. Your symptoms will usually be at their worst within 10 minutes. You might also experience symptoms of a panic attack over a longer period of time. This could be because you’re having a second panic attack, or you’re experiencing other symptoms of anxiety.

“My panic attacks seem to come out of the blue now. But in fact, they seem to be triggered mainly at night when I want to go to sleep but cannot stop my mind racing, experiencing worry and panic about anything that may be on my mind.”

How Are They Treated

Treatments for panic attacks and panic disorder include counselling, especially cognitive-behavioural therapy . Medicines may also help. Treatment can help most people control or even stop attacks. But symptoms can come back, especially if you stop treatment too soon.

Early treatment of panic attacks is very important. It can prevent other problems related to panic disorder. These problems include depression, anxiety disorders, and substance use problems.

Also Check: Can You Blackout From A Panic Attack

Answers To Your Questions About Panic Disorder

Answers to your questions about panic disorder.

Panic Disorder is a serious condition that around one out of every 75 people might experience. It usually appears during the teens or early adulthood, and while the exact causes are unclear, there does seem to be a connection with major life transitions that are potentially stressful: graduating from college, getting married, having a first child, and so on. There is also some evidence for a genetic predisposition if a family member has suffered from panic disorder, you have an increased risk of suffering from it yourself, especially during a time in your life that is particularly stressful.

A panic attack is a sudden surge of overwhelming fear that comes without warning and without any obvious reason. It is far more intense than the feeling of being “stressed out” that most people experience. Symptoms of a panic attack include:

• racing heartbeat

• hot flashes, or sudden chills

• tingling in fingers or toes

• fear that you’re going to go crazy or are about to die

You probably recognize this as the classic “flight or fight” response that human beings experience when we are in a situation of danger. But during a panic attack, these symptoms seem to rise from out of nowhere. They occur in seemingly harmless situations–they can even happen while you are asleep.

In addition to the above symptoms, a panic attack is marked by the following conditions:

The answer to this is a resounding YES — if they receive treatment.

What Are Panic Attacks 20 Signs Symptoms And Causes

• 0
• 14-12-2021

If youve ever experienced a heart-racing, heavy breathing, out-of-control episode that is overwhelming to the point of feeling like you have to flee, you have most likely experienced anxiety.

Anxiety is a heightened mental state in which an individual dreads uncertain and ill-defined events in the future.

People who experience elevated anxiety might have panic attacks, which are intense and can often occur out of the blue. They comprise an all-encompassing fear and terror that can feel near impossible to overcome .

The presence of anxiety can be distressing and often debilitating, but understanding the origins of the anxiety can help combat external reactions, such as panic attacks.

This article will detail the symptoms and causes of panic attacks and provide treatment options and coping strategies to help facilitate your wellbeing.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to . These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees.

Also Check: Can Low Blood Sugar Cause Panic Attacks