Panic Attacks and other Anxiety Disorders

2010-12-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

Panic attacks are a serious medical illnesses that involve intense feelings of fear,
anxiousness, worry or apprehension often associated with specific situations,
events or objects.
The physical symptoms that accompany these feelings include heart palpitations, trembling,
dry mouth, weakness, nausea and diarrhea.
There are different kind of panic attacks, but all share the symtoms of excessive fear and dread.
Panic attacks include anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder,
social phobia or social anxiety disorder, specific phobias (fears of enclosed spaces,heights,crowds), and generalized anxiety disorder.
Anxiety, nervousness, fear - these feelings are experiences by everyone at sometime.

More than 25 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders, a group of psychological problems characterized by unnatural anxiety or irrational fears. The emotions and fears surrounding these disorders can dominate ones lifestyle, interfering with the ability to work, socialize or maintain relationships with friends and family.
Anxiety disorders are highly treatable. Experts estimate that up to 95 percent of persons
who suffer from anxiety disorders can be helped through medication, behavior modification,
or psychotherapy.
If anxiety becomes pronounced, it then can express itself in various ways. One example is, you
might have trouble falling asleep; dwell on a particular situation ,feel tense, twitchy,
jittery, dizzy and sweaty; have trouble concentrating; overeat or lose your appetite; get
overly vigilant and startle easily; have a feeling of impending disaster, feel as
if "something bad is going to happen;" or depression.

The most common anxiety disorders are phobias, generalized anxiety, panic disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD).

Phobias are characterized by an intense, almost paralyzing fear centering on
a specific situation or object. Virtually everyone can think of
something that evokes an instinctive response akin to fear, but phobias go far beyond what
is normal or rational.

Generalized Anxiety may involve specific situations, issues or objects. Many with
this problem weave a web of excessive worry that encompasses a wide latitude
of everyday situations, many of them quite trivial. In generalized anxiety, the fears are
more pervasive and less easy to plan around in comparison with are those associated by using
phobias.

Panic attacks are characterized by a sudden rush of dread, usually accompanied by way of,
shortness of breath,
pounding heart, a choking or suffocating attraction or other physicalsymptoms. It often occurs
in response to a stressful situation or during a period of chronic emotional pressure. Attacks
will appear in the most familiar and seemingly non-threatening places, at the grocery store,
in church or while driving along a familiar road. Suffers often describe a emotion
of unreality during the attack.
Someone experiencing a panic attack may feel on the verge of losing control, going crazy
or even dying; he or she can suddenly start screaming, run away or even otherwise create
a scene. In most instances, the feelings pass within a
Proper diagnosis is critical. Many sufferers of panic disorder are convinced they are having a heart attack due to the pounding heart and choking sensations. Individuals may drift from one doctor to another, being reassured that their hearts may be excellent, but never getting to the root of
their problem.

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder are troubled by uncertainty, manifested in
obsessions (persistent unwanted thoughts or desires) and compulsions
(senseless rituals performed either to prevent or worry about a future event).

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has gained recognition in current years because in
its emergence within many Vietnam veterans. Victims tend to relive over and over a
particularly painful or stressful situation and often have nightmares of the event. Rape,
beatings, incest, sexual abuse and catastrophic accidents can also trigger the disorder.

Treatment of anxiety disorders varies, relying on the nature of the disorder and
the individual. A lot of patients respond well to cognitive and behavioral therapy.
With behavioral therapy, a patient is asked to gradually confront the source of the fear. A
person with panic attacks might be asked to return several instances in order to
a place associated with an attack. While using aid of a therapist or supportive friend, the
patient learns to "ride out" a panic attack rather than run from it.
Traditional psychotherapy, talking out problems could very well be beneficial to many
patients. Cognitive remedy, will help patients identify the distorted thoughts and misconceptions that give rise to the nervousness.

One thing to remember is that effective treatments are available for anxiety disorders, and
one should never feel the need to retreat from your daily life due to any of these emotional
disorders. The biggest step, and sometimes the toughest, can be to just ask for help. Bear in
mind that you is not alone, you are one of millions who are affected by these problems.

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