Panic Attacks. Should I Panic?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Panic attacks are not uncommon these days. They manifest in a variety of ways: anxiety, fear, rapid breathing or heartbeat, shortness of breath, choking, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, trembling, and more. The symptoms are many and many are somatic. And often at the same time a diagnosis is made - vegetative-vascular dystonia, or other diagnoses. Only in the tenth international classification of diseases did such a concept as a panic attack appear.

Some experts believe that the causes of panic attacks are more physiological or genetic: heredity, lack of hormones, physical injury and stress, alcohol or psychotropic substance abuse. Others believe that psychological causes are the root cause: psychological traumas that have been repressed and thus find a way out.

The truth is most likely in the middle. The current situation in life (stress, problems, and so on), genetic predisposition undoubtedly play a role, but not a decisive one. It is much more important how our psyche is able to cope with difficulties and how adaptive our psychological defenses are.

Yes, a panic attack can appear at twenty, thirty or fifty years old, but it will always be an echo of the past. That psychological trauma that was suppressed, and now the moment has come when the psyche can no longer cope with the stress. The panic attack itself is irrational. At the moment of a real threat, it appears extremely rarely. And in this case, it is very difficult for us to connect the cause of the panic attack and its manifestation. It is also worth understanding that, often, an attack of a panic attack in itself is not life-threatening. But it severely degrades the quality of life.

One of my patients was afraid of bridges and heights. And it didn't matter if he was walking or driving, crossing the bridge caused a terrible panic, a strong heartbeat, and visual impairment. And the road from home to work took a long time, as he had to get out of transport and try to cope with the attack. Only after a considerable period of time did he manage to cross bridges by bicycle without symptoms. And this was a huge victory on his part.

The most important thing with panic attacks is to get help. Yes, the course of psychotherapy will be significant in time. Sometimes it takes several years. It is by finding the outdated cause of panic attacks and working through it that you can cope with this ailment. Unfortunately, medication alone rarely helps. It only suppresses the symptoms, hides them or makes them less intense.

What can you do yourself? First and foremost, you need to reduce the amount of stress in your current life. It is necessary to remove stress factors from yourself as much as possible. If you are suffocating, then remember any foreign film (they often show it there) where the hero breathes into a package. So take any package and try to breathe into it in a measured way, trying to normalize the breathing rate. One of the patients at such moments tried to imitate the breathing of Darth Vader. This made her laugh, and the panic attack retreated.

Also, try to shift your focus of attention away from the physical manifestation during a panic attack to something external. Counting the number of blue (or black, or white, in general any) cars will help distract during an attack. Someone begins to count the number of bald men, someone the number of sewer manholes. It doesn't matter what it is. The main thing is outside and visible.

Moderate exercise helps a lot. A measured swim in the pool or doing yoga will not only help you relax, but also give you physical health.