What Are Panic Attacks?

A panic attack is a short-lived period of intense anxiety fear or discomfort. A panic attack may come on for a number of reasons sometimes in healthy individuals and sometimes as a result of an underlying disorder in healthy individuals. Panic attacks may be triggered in periods of intense stress as part of the fight-or-flight response. Panic attacks may also present as a result of different mental disorders such as anxiety disorders depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Certain prescription medications or alcohol or drug abuse may also precipitate a panic attack.

Symptoms

Panic attacks can present with a range of different symptoms which we have listed here. Some of the most common symptoms include a pounding heart sweating and trembling. Individuals suffering from a panic attack often report feeling like they're having a heart attack. Almost 1/3 of people will have experienced a panic attack at some point in their life but when panic attacks become recurrent and are not consistently associated with a particular situation or object the individual may be diagnosed with panic disorder.

Diagnosis of panic disorder necessitates a minimum of three panic attacks of sudden onset involving at least four of the twelve symptoms occurring within a three-week period. This condition is also marked by persistent concerns about having another attack and a fear about what the attacks may mean. Panic disorder can be debilitating for individuals who suffer from it they may change their routines out of worry that they will suffer from a panic attack and may find that it begins to interfere with their day-to-day life. In these cases, individuals may choose to seek treatment.

Treatment

If an individual is suffering with panic disorder, there are a number of treatment options that they may take. Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT has been found to be more effective than no treatment at reducing the symptoms of panic disorder. Drug treatments for panic disorder include SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants benzodiazepines are also an available drug option for panic disorder but come with some additional risks.

            It is not currently known whether drug therapy or CBT is a more beneficial option although many physicians prescribe a combination of both CBT and drugs. There is no high-quality evidence showing that combining them is better than either one on its own. 

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