Panic Attacks, Symptoms and Cures
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You walk into the woods to gather twigs for a campfire. You have walked just a few steps, when you turn and see a black bear galloping toward you. For a split second, you freeze, your arms and legs stiffen. From this point on, your thoughts stop as your body takes over. You are now in "survival" mode. Your heart starts beating faster, pumping blood to the areas of your body that you need to either run away or fight the bear. Your thighs, biceps, and other muscles get most of this blood, while the blood recedes from your fingers and toes to keep you from bleeding to death in case the bear injures you. You start breathing deeply and rapidly, oxygenating the tissues of your body for action. You start sweating so that your body does not overheat during action and so that, if the bear grabs you, he will have a hard time holding onto your slippery body. You are now primed for action; you either start running, or grab the nearest stick or rock to defend yourself against the bear.
When the incident is over (hopefully, you are the victor) you calm down; your body returns to normal. You remember how terrified you were and, perhaps, how strange your body felt during this incident, but you don't dwell on those feelings. You know that the bear was responsible for all those strange, bodily sensations that you experienced. The bear triggered your instinctive "flight or fight" response. People who suffer panic attacks, however, have no such excuse for their terror. Instead, an invisible enemy seems to trigger their "flight or fight" response, and it can happen at any time, in any place, with any situation. Though many people consider simple anxiety as being panic attacks, they are not the same. A panic attack is an intense feeling of fear, without a logical cause, not just a stressful feeling. Sure, having a panic attack while making a speech might make logical sense (most people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death), but having one while grocery shopping or finishing a project at work is not. SYMPTOMS OF A PANIC ATTACK Not surprisingly, the main symptoms of a panic attack, according to the American Psychological Association, are the same ones that you would feel if you were faced with a hungry bear. During a panic attack, you may experience all of these symptoms, or just a few of them. They include: racing heartbeat difficulty breathing, feeling as though you can't get enough air. Terror that is almost paralyzing. Dizziness, lightheadedness or nausea trembling, sweating, shaking choking, chest pains hot flashes or sudden chills, tingling in fingers or toes ('pins and needles') fear that you're going to go crazy or are about to die. But, because you are not faced with a hungry bear, or any other obvious threat, you fear that something is seriously wrong with you and that you are either dying or going crazy. Moreover, these episodes of intense fear happen suddenly, without warning, and way out of proportion to (or even unrelated to) the actual situation, making you feel helplessly out-of-control of yourself and of your own body. GETTING HELP But you have more control than you think you do. If you suspect that you are having panic attacks, seek out the services of a good psychotherapist, preferably a cognitive-behavioral therapist. Lucinda Bassett, founder of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, recommends cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as the very best treatment for panic attacks. CBT teaches you to think differently about the incidents that trigger your panic attacks, thereby modifying your bodily reactions to those triggers. In addition to CBT, your therapist may also suggest anti-anxiety medications to help you to cope with your panic attacks. Some of these medications include Paxil, Lexapro, Effexor, and Zoloft, but they just treat the symptoms of panic attacks, they don't cure them. Rather, if you just take medication for your panic attacks, without therapy, you are likely to relapse once you go off of the medication because you haven't learned new behaviors to cope with your panicky feelings. If you MUST take medication, therefore, be sure to get therapy at the same time; this is your best chance of making a full recovery from panic attacks. TECHNIQUES TO EASE PANIC ATTACKS Regardless of whether you are getting help from medication or therapy (preferably both), here are some of Bassett's tips for alleviating your panic attacks: |
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