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PAnic attacks usually occur when a person is stressed. Stress can be physical, like being exhausted, or emotional, like a major life change.
Panic attacks are a relatively common experience in one in seven people at least once. A little over half of these people will have repeated panic attacks.
Our understanding of panic attacks has evolved over time, but now we come to understand what they are and what we can do to help those who experience them.
It is important to understand that panic attacks are a physiological expression of anxiety and not inherently dangerous. Symptoms are the natural way the body uses to deal with perceived threats.
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An accumulation of stress
Panic attacks are generally felt as episodes of intense anxiety of limited duration.
The effects of stress can accumulate slowly and it is unlikely that a person will be aware of the magnitude of his stress up to the panic attack.
Panic attacks often seem to occur for no apparent reason. They can occur anywhere and anytime, including at night, when the person has fallen asleep.
Panic attacks often have a very brutal onset and usually resolve in minutes rather than hours.
They often, but not always, experience physical symptoms, such as fast or jumpy heartbeat, difficulty breathing and tightness in the chest, dizziness, muscle tension and sweating.
When a person experiences a panic attack, there is also an emotional response motivated by the perception of a threat or danger. If the person does not know why a panic attack occurs or perceives it as something more sinister, they may feel more anxious.
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Are panic attacks dangerous?
Panic attacks are not dangerous in themselves. They are simply an intense anxiety and the symptoms are true expressions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activating and regulating.
An increase in heart rate occurs to improve the supply of oxygen to our muscles in order to prepare for actions such as wrestling or theft. It requires more oxygen and therefore an increase in the respiratory rate, resulting in a feeling of breathlessness and chest tightness.
As oxygen is directed to the nucleus and muscles, the intake can decrease proportionally up to the head, resulting in symptoms of dizziness.
The expression of these symptoms self-regulating, all panic attacks will cease. However, the residual effects of chemical body messengers, adrenaline and norepinephrine take some time to disappear. It is therefore likely that after a panic attack, the person will still feel some anxiety.
Again, this is to allow the body to be ready to reactivate against any other perceived or real threat. It is also understandable that after this experience, the person feels tired and exhausted.
So, if you have a panic attack, even if it is unpleasant, it does not necessarily mean that you need to ask for help. It may be that, through reflection, you can use the panic attack as a signal to examine what is happening to cause physical or emotional stress in your life, and possibly make some changes.
When should you ask for help?
A small portion of people (1.7%) who have panic attacks may develop panic disorder.
Panic attacks can become frequent and cause a person to avoid situations that they perceive as high risk.
In this case, panic attacks become a panic disorder and it would be helpful to call in a mental health expert, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.
The most effective treatment for panic disorder is psychological therapy (cognitive-behavioral therapy) with or without antidepressants.
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What can I do to help a friend?
If you see a panic attack, try not to feed your fear by reacting with anxiety or fear. Remember and remember calmly to the person that although the experience is unpleasant, it is not dangerous and will pbad.
Perhaps the most useful thing to do for a person with a panic attack will be to help them refocus, away from the thoughts that cause stress.
But you can also give them a sense of control over the physical effects of the attack. This can be done by helping to slow down and slow down the person's breathing. There are many variations of this process, but an example is to calmly ask the person to inhale for four seconds, hold his breath for two seconds, then slowly exhale for six seconds.
You can silently count the number of seconds with the person and repeat the procedure for a minute or two, if necessary.
This article was originally published on The Conversation by Justin Kenardy. Read the original article here.
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