Panic attacks are one of the most frequent symptoms in our usual consultation. Many people report having suffered at least one episode of panic attacks in their life. If it has happened to you, you will agree that the feeling is quite overwhelming, you want to run away and that happens quickly. And the worst thing is that there is the feeling that everything ended there. This creates significant distress.
But how do panic attacks manifest? They can be described as episodes of sudden onset, usually without prior warning, of various symptoms of very intense anxiety, which with the passage of minutes increase in intensity, until they become very strong, typically around 10 minutes. The duration is variable, for some it lasts only a few seconds, and for others it can last several hours.
The symptoms of anxiety are very varied, but we can divide them into emotional, bodily and mental symptoms. Within the emotional are, of course, the anguish. There is a feeling of restlessness, restlessness, a desire to run, nervousness and intense fear. Sometimes it is uncontrollable and intolerable, the person wants the symptoms to end quickly, and often despairs.
The bodily symptoms are the most characteristic, and they are the ones that the person feels the most. It includes palpitations, tachycardia, chest tightness, feeling of suffocation, abdominal discomfort, nausea, feeling of choking, chills, sweating, tremors, dizziness and instability in posture. Fortunately, there are usually not all of these symptoms, but a few, but it is usually enough for the discomfort they cause. Sometimes minor panic attacks tend to have just one or two of these bodily symptoms.
Mental symptoms are perhaps the most disabling and the ones that make a person suffer so much from panic attacks. Two of the most frequent mental symptoms are depersonalization, which is a sensation that the person has of not being him / her, of moving automatically and of lack of control of their will; and derealization, where the person feels that he is like in a dream, that reality is not real.
Among the mental symptoms are catastrophic thoughts. This is perhaps the worst, since they generate the highest anguish. They are also the cause of the attack being worse in intensity and persisting despite the treatments. It is the thought of impending death, serious illness, and going crazy. The symptoms, as you can see, are varied and scandalous, and they generate in the person the feeling that they are manifestations that something very serious is happening in the body. The person may think that her life ended there, that she is going to go crazy or that they are manifestations of heart problems or hemorrhages or cerebral thrombi.
Panic attacks often occur within the context of a syndrome called Panic Disorder, which has other considerations in addition to panic attacks. However, they can also occur in very stressful situations, in physical illnesses or in circumstances that exceed coping abilities. They are also common when the person is exposed to what generates phobias.
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If you want to know more about strategies to improve panic attacks, or if you want to work on yourself in a more personalized way through face-to-face psychotherapeutic consultations or via Skype, click here.
Guillermo Mendoza Velez
Medical Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
www.SaludMentalyEmocional.com
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