2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
A panic attack is an unexplained and painful attack of severe anxiety, which is accompanied by fear in combination with various autonomic (somatic) symptoms (heart palpitations, sweating, chills (tremors, feeling of internal tremors), shortness of breath, shortness of breath, pain in the left side of the chest, nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, tingling sensation in the limbs, etc.).
The intensity of the main criterion for a panic attack can vary over a wide range: from a pronounced state of panic to a feeling of internal tension.
A person who first encounters this condition is very frightened, begins to think about any serious disease of the heart, endocrine or nervous systems, digestion, can call an ambulance - after all, after a sudden fear, the release of adrenaline is activated, giving the nervous system a signal “run or fight”and preparing the body to escape from danger. But there is actually no danger, there is no one to run away from and the person begins to frantically search for the cause of what is happening.
A person's interpretation of a panic attack as a manifestation of any somatic disease can lead to frequent visits to a doctor, multiple consultations, unjustified diagnostic tests and give a person an impression of the complexity and uniqueness of his disease.
In most cases, panic attacks are not limited to one attack. The first episodes leave an indelible mark on the person's memory, which leads to repeated anticipation of the attack, which reinforces the recurrence of attacks (due to secondary fear). If panic attacks are repeated in similar situations (in transport, an airplane, in a crowd, etc.), the person tries to carefully avoid them, which can lead to aggravation of the panic disorder.
The main reason for the triggering and development of PA is the emotion of anxiety, which, due to certain changes in the human body (for example, overwork, prolonged lack of sleep, alcohol or psychoactive drugs, stress) triggers a panic attack - it begins to seem to him that he may die or go crazy. And no one in the whole world cares about this.
All this is usually supported by a lack of skills to feel and take care of your body, not the ability to express your feelings, bad habits, heredity, etc.
A panic attack can be a peculiar way of a person's interaction with the world - a way to avoid their unconscious acute loneliness. After all, you can absolutely legally communicate with relatives and friends, counting on their help and support (this is the secondary benefit of the PA).
It is supported by obsessive thoughts, disturbing scenarios, negative internal dialogue. A person scares himself, and this only makes him worse. During each new attack, he again and again begins to believe in the most incredible dark scenarios that have never happened before this time. It may seem to him that now everything will definitely be bad (although the probability of this is practically zero). It is this reaction to a panic attack, inflated by well-functioning imaginations and endless internal dialogue, that can make attacks particularly unpleasant and cause them to come back again.
As in the parable of the tree that grants a wish:
“Once a tired traveler was looking for a place to rest, he saw a spreading tree beckoning with its shady crown, and decided to rest in its shade. And since the day was hot, the traveler naturally had a desire to quench his thirst. And as soon as this desire took shape in his imagination, a tall glass filled with cold fruit juice appeared out of nowhere. He gladly took the glass and drank from it. Then the traveler thought: "It would be great if my soft bed could appear here." And then there was a bed under him. “That's great! - thought the traveler. "But it would be even better if my wife were here and taste these joys with me." His wife immediately appeared in front of him. But when he saw his wife, he was frightened: “What if the wife is not real? What if the demon took her form? " And as soon as this thought arose in his head, his wife turned into a demon. The traveler trembled with fear: "This demon can swallow me." And, of course, the demon pounced on him and ate it."
Likewise, during an attack of PA, other fears and anxieties can flourish, which further only intensify it. For example, social, which can suddenly occur in public places: fear of vomiting, embarrassment "with the toilet" or fear of losing consciousness and falling to the ground in an absolutely indecent form. These are fears of public shame ("social death") - the loss of one's face in front of others, the reasons for which may, in turn, be certain fears, which are very carefully and hastily displaced into the subconscious. Fears that a person strictly forbids himself to experience. That is why, in order to get rid of panic attacks, it is very important not to deal with fears, but to accept them and allow yourself to live them; get rid of anxiety and obsessive thoughts; increase your awareness; regain sensitivity and confidence in your body.
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