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Panic Attacks & How To Stop Them

Panic Attack

A group of intense anxiety symptoms which come on quickly, sometimes without warning. Panic attacks are the most extreme physical manifestation of high anxiety.

Although panic attacks can produce some very disturbing symptoms, they are completely harmless and can be stopped completely, let me explain how.

Panic attacks are the most extreme manifestation of panic disorder, an anxiety response resulting from an over-production and under-use of adrenalin, the bodily chemical which cause them. When the anxiety reaction has no use for adrenalin, this powerful hormone can create a group of physical reactions which can peak with the formation of a panic attack. This response is natural and physical - it has nothing to do with mental or physical illness or chemical imbalances, but it can feel very threatening indeed.

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A panic attack usually builds subconsciously as a response to a perceived danger, but spontaneous panic attacks can occur indiscriminately without the need for any external catalyst to be present.

Because behaviour has been altered to 'accommodate' the anxiety in your life, the subconscious mind is holding onto this inappropriate anxious response and it is this which causes panic attacks to appear without warning.

Whilst disturbing, panic attack symptoms are usually reasonably controlled by the sufferer using avoidance behaviours. Although not ideal, the panic attacks sufferer can, at least, live a fairly normal life most of the time. Avoidance behaviours can severely curtail a sufferer’s enjoyment of life, but also cause the panic attacks sufferer to ‘support’ their panic disorder.

The panic response happens when the Amygdala, a small organ in the brain which forms part of the subconscious mind and plays an important part of the activation of the anxiety response, becomes re-set at a higher than appropriate level of anxiety, tipping the sufferer into panic attacks mode in a split second; often without any external stimulation or catalyst.

Once started, however, the panic attack response can spiral out of control, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of high anxiety and panic attacks which can be very difficult to break. The panic attacks sufferer feels threatened by the initial anxiety, this cause the anxiety to rise, this causes a panic attacks, this causes symptoms, the sufferer fears the symptoms, this causes more fear which causes more symptoms and an endless cycle of fear and anxiety ensues... a cycle which is very hard to break.

In each and every case, the cause remains the same - the inappropriate response of the amygdala. Because the amygdala believes that its response is appropriate, the brain continues to react in this way even though the sufferer knows consciously that it shouldn't be that way. Fear breeds fear and the cycle continues.

This reprogramming of the amygdala which causes panic attacks, can be undone permanently by reversing their formation.

Panic Attack Types

There are known to be three distinct types of panic attack:

Spontaneous Panic Attacks

Spontaneous panic attacks can appear at any time (often during the night whilst sleeping) regardless of the current situation and occur without being stimulated or brought on by an identifiable external factor. Spontaneous panic attacks are difficult for the sufferer to come to terms with as they struggle to understand their formation and commences seeking something to blame for their development.

Specific Panic Attacks

Specific panic attacks only happen when a specific catalyst or sequence of events are experienced by the sufferer. For example, a panic attack may develop if a sufferer visits a dentist or takes a flight in an airplane. Avoidance behaviours start early when this form of panic attack is experienced, it is all to easy for the sufferer to avoid the situations which cause their panic attacks to form and by ‘practicing’ these avoidance behaviours, the sufferer is causing the anxiety response to become deeply ingrained in their subconscious mind.

Situational Panic Attacks

Situational panic attacks, like specific panic attacks, only normally occur under certain circumstances. However, they are not usually caused by that situation. For example, a sufferer who experiences a panic attack whilst riding a bus, may only have a panic attack in that situation occasionally. Whilst the sufferer is predisposed to having panic attacks on the bus, the bus itself is not the source of the fear and ultimate formation of the panic attack.

Panic Attack Symptoms

Panic attack symptoms are usually a more intense version of the symptoms experienced during generalised anxiety. These include:

• Shortness of breath
• Chest pains
• Stomach cramps or diarrhoea
• Racing heart
• Dizziness or faintness
• Tingling in the extremities
• Muscle pains
• Sweating
• and many others...

In fact, the list of symptoms experienced by panic attack sufferers can be very long indeed. The symptoms listed above form the core or most commonly described panic attack symptoms a sufferer may experience. It is important to bear in mind that every one of us is physically and psychologically different so these symptoms aren't going to be the same for every panic attacks sufferer.

After the peak of the panic attack has subsided, the sufferer can be left feeling weak, tired, confused, emotional and achy from their symptoms. It is not uncommon to feel fluey and shaky, this is all normal and will pass.

It is very important to understand that panic attack symptoms give the body a workout, like running or going to the gym. The aches and pains are inevitable side-effects! Actually, your heart is being strengthened by panic attack symptoms; the heart is a muscle and like any other muscle in your body and the exercise is good for it!

Read more about Panic Attack Symptoms

Panic Attack Treatment / Cures

Most conventional medical practitioners will offer you one of two panic attack treatments. Initially, the treatments offered will most likely be drug therapy and psychotherapy. These panic attack treatments are mostly superficial and unsuccessful used in isolation.

Drug therapy treats the apparent panic attack symptoms but is superficial in as much as the therapeutic affect of the drug never reaches the core of the disorder in order to make the appropriate changes to the subconscious mind for the sufferer to make a full and lasting recovery… drugs, at best, are a first aid treatments providing temporary relief from the more acute symptoms. Some drugs slow the heart beat to prevent the development of a panic attack but when the drugs are withdrawn, the sufferer often suffers with rebound anxiety and panic attacks.

Antidepressants, which are often prescribed for the treatment of panic attacks, are intended to treat depressive conditions but can minimise the more acute symptoms experienced, however, again this is not a cure, when the drugs are removed, unless the panic attacks have been addressed in a more targeted program of recovery, they will often return and sometimes more aggressively than before.

A true and successful panic attacks cure must address the subconscious core of the anxiety disorder which causes your panic attacks directly with a programme of recovery which undermines and removes the cause of the disorder. By doing this, the formation of the panic disorder can be reversed and the sufferer can become panic attacks free very quickly indeed.

Being panic attacks free is already pre0programmed into you from birth, all we do is how you how to flick the anxiety switch back from ON to OFF.

Read more about Panic Attack Treatment / Cures

Jane Kelly describes helping her daughter, Emma, to eliminate panic attacks with The Linden Method:

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