Shortness of breath, tachycardia, nausea, fears, sweating and worse fears. Without warning, all of these symptoms may appear suddenly and fully involve people with panic disorder.
Panic attacks occur for no apparent reason. From hour to hour, it’s like an avalanche of anguish will take your breath away.
- Our bodies are preparing for a danger that doesn’t really exist.
- At the brain level what happens is that the frontal lobes (which are responsible for focusing our conscious attention) are partially deactivated and focus only on the sense of alertness.
We cannot see much more than our own fear, which obscures our understanding and incapacitates us to understand that we are not in danger; At the same time, the body begins to discharge adrenaline and other hormones to escape and protect itself. there is no real physical crisis, the body’s strategy fails and surpasses us, creating very strong physical symptoms.
An unreal perception of the environment is also characteristic of the panic attack, the person feels that he is not himself and that he has no control over the situation, which makes him escape from the place and circumstances in which he finds himself. Time also changes: even if it’s brief, like a nightmare, anyone who experiences a panic attack may feel it’s eternal. Over time, if repeated, the person may develop agoraphobia and not want to leave home to avoid a similar episode.
One of the worst pitfalls of a panic attack is physical symptoms: tachycardia, chills and nausea can convince panicked people that they are going to die, which ends up creating a terrible vicious cycle: the more fear the person is, the more symptoms intensify and the more they intensify, the more afraid they are.
Controlling a panic attack is certainly a challenge for those facing it. But, as with virtually every problem we face in our lives, it is we who must deal with the crisis. It’s an unpleasant situation, but far beyond that, absolutely nothing is going to happen, and it’s totally fleeting.
If you have a panic attack, try not to avoid it or fight it: accept it and try to focus your attention on the present, not on what might happen (dying, losing control or causing a scene).
As soon as you stop thinking about something alarming, the attack goes away on its own, then, when symptoms resign, feel proud of yourself to overcome them and make no effort, relax.
If you understand that you need help managing your panic attacks, consult a professional and, with the right therapy, you can control your panic rather than control yourself.
Photo: Davi Ozolin