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Essays on panic and anxiety attacks
Essays on panic and anxiety attacks
Research paper on anxiety and panic attacks
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Everything You Need to Know About Panic Attacks in Order to Stop Them It’s one thing trying to improve your ability to control your own stress response so that you can combat anxiety and improve your health. But it’s quite another when you experience serious panic attacks that leave you crippled and that prevent you from engaging in normal activities. But in fact the tools you will use to achieve both ends are similar. The difference is just that panic attacks might require a more intense and a more focussed approach. And in either case, understanding the biology behind the experience can be a fantastic tool to help you take control more effectively. Let’s look at what panic attacks are and how you can take them on head-to-head. The Basics of Panic Attacks When you experience any kind of stress, it’s because your sympathetic nervous system is releasing specific …show more content…
Your heartrate accelerates significantly and more blood and oxygen are sent to your muscles. But the thing is that this increases your overall strength your reflexes and your ability to fight or run. This is a useful response in the right context. The problem is when you misinterpret these signals and cause a panic attack. What happens in this case is that you notice yourself get anxious and you become worried that this is going to cause you embarrassment or make you faint (perhaps because you have previous experience with panic attacks). You begin to hyperventilate and this combined with the elevated heartrate causes chest pain. And some people mistake that chest pain for the signs of a heart attack. All this makes you more anxious and that in turn means you ramp up the response even more. Your heartrate increases more, you get more anxious and eventually you might even start to get dizzy from all that oxygen. The
The onset of Panic Disorder can begin in between late adolescents and mid 30’s, 3-5% of people can develop this disorder with it being more prevalently developed in women....
Panic disorder is an anxiety-repeated disorder that affects approximately five percent of the population (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). A diagnosis of panic disorder requires that the individual experiences recurrent panic attacks with any of the following: worry about the possibility of future attacks, avoiding places or situations in which the individual fears a panic attack may occur, fear of being unable to escape or obtain help, or any other change in behavior due to the attacks (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). Panic attacks are often sudden and the sufferer usually experience physical symptoms such as autonomie, otoneurological, gastrointestinal,or cardiorespiratory distress (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). Individuals who suffer from panic disorder typically utilize medical services at a higher rate than those who do not have panic disorder, an impaired social life, and a reduced quality of life (Taylor, 2006). Often times those who suffer from panic disorder may also suffer from depression and general anxiety (Taylor, 2006). According to the Stanford University School of medicine, approximately 50 percent of patients diagnosed with panic disorder will develop depression and approximately 50 percent of depressed patients will develop panic disorder (Taylor, 2006). In addition those who suffer from panic disorder have a higher incidence of suicide, especially those with comorbid depression (Taylor, 2006). Not everyone who experiences a panic attack suffers from panic disorder (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). The same physical symptoms of panic disorder may occur when an individual is faced with specific fears and potentially dangerous situations (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). The difference b...
Severe anxiety, which can be described as an episode of terror, is referred to as a panic attack. Panic attacks can be extremely frightening. People who experience panic attacks over a prolonged time period may become victims of agoraphobia, which is a psychiatric disorder that is closely associated with the panic disorder. Patients with Agoraphobia avoid certain places or situations such as airplanes, crowded theaters, a grocery store or anyplace from which escape might be difficult. It is said that Agoraphobia can be so severe that it has made certain individuals housebound.
When faced with a dangerous situation, the common mind will flood with consternation, while the body changes its customary routine to adjust to this new development. One of the first things to change is the release of adrenaline. That adrenaline will cause the release of stored energy and move blood between the muscle groups (Conger 2). This allows the subject to move faster, work harder, and be stronger. All of these traits improve the individual to better survive the dilemma and find safety. Besides contributing to an increase in energy and power, the adrenal glands release cortisol too (Conger 1). The stress o...
Panic attacks are the third kind of phobia. They can change the quality of a person’s life. Someone with a phobia this bad may be shopping at the supermarket and suddenly experience dizziness and a feeling of being out of control. At that moment, the person experiences a fear of dying, with no safe place to go. When this happens more than once, the person might think they are going crazy. Someone with panic attacks soon won’t leave the house because of fear of a panic attack happening outside the house. Soon, depression s...
Women are more likely to have panic disorder than men. Early adulthood and adolescence is when people usually develop panic disorder(Retrieved March 28, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_disorder). An average of six million adults living in America will experience panic disorder in one year(Facts & Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics). The essential features in the DSM are recurrent, unexpected panic attacks(Panic Disorder (DSM-IV-R) - Panic Disorder, Cont. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.biopsychinstitute.com/psychiatric-disorders/panic-disorder?start=1 ). According to the DSM, two unexpected panic attacks are required for the diagnosis, but most people have more. Individuals with this disorder frequently also have predisposed panic attacks. The doctor bases the diagnosis off of the intensity of the symptoms, the frequency of panic attacks, and the doctor's observation of the patient's behavior. Moderate is considered once a week, severe is considered daily. A lot of people do not know that their disorder is a real life thing and treatment is highly effective. Many people blow it off and don't speak up about it, making it worse. The associated features documented in the DSM are feelings of anxiety that are not focused on any situation or event. Individuals often
People are exposed to numerous amounts of positive and negative events throughout their lifetime. No one is given a life that is perfect or free from difficulty. Whether it is a death in the family, chronic illness, house fire, automobile accident, or any other type of impacting event, stressors are bound to occur throughout one’s life. Since people are constantly exposed to stressors in life, it is essential that one is able to adequately cope. There are three types of responses to stress. The first is the positive stress response, which is a normal and brief response to stress and is characterized by a mild increase in heart rate (“Toxic Stress,” 2017). One example of a positive stress response could be the slight apprehension one feels before
Each bodily physiological system has an individual established set point, or level of balance; however, some fluctuations in these levels are tolerated. The balance of any system can be, and regularly is disturbed by internal and/or external events of the mechanical, physical, chemical, biological, and/or social types. When this balance is disrupted, and involuntary mobilizations of biological processes are not able to re-establish it, an alarm reaction is activated (Schedlowski and Tewes, 1999). This reaction is referred to as a stress response, and the activating agent is the stressor (Selye, 1936).
It should be noted that while agoraphobia and panic attacks are closely related conditions, on rare occasions one can occur without the other. According to published reports nearly 95% of agoraphobia sufferers will experience panic attacks at some time along with other agoraphobia symptoms. Conversely, roughly 1/3 of people with diagnosed panic attacks have an accompanying agoraphobia diagnosis.
Panic disorder is a type of anxiety mental disorder where panic attacks occur unexpectedly. Commonly confused, anxiety and fear are not the same thing. Fear is felt about something realistically dangerous and is a response to something perceived as a threat. Anxiety is often generalized as an overreaction feeling of fear, and worry when no threat is present.
Panic disorder is much different than GAD. Panic disorder is a serious condition where the sufferer experiences a wave of irrational fear. One who is diagnosed with Panic Disorder may live in fear of another panic attack and will often avoid a person or place that was around when the last attack occurred. Agoraphobia, which is the fear of being in a public or being in a crowded place, is normally linked with panic disorder. People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder can experience an anxiety attack, which is different from a panic attack. An anxiety attack occurs when one is faced with a stressor and the attack is only a few minutes, maybe even a few seconds. Panic attacks, on the other hand, can last about 10 minutes and approach out of nowhere. Symptoms of a panic attack include difficulty breathing, chest pain, shortness of breath, trembling/shaking, sweating, nausea, tingling/numbness in limbs, or a fear that you are losing control of yourself or you are about to die. Some causes of Panic Disorder are substance abuse, history of the disorder in the family, or even a major life stress like a death in the family or a major transition. Even though this disorder is horrible to live with, it’s very common. About 2.4 million Americans live with this condition. Panic disorder usually begins in either early childhood or late adolescence. The disease is also twice as common to find in women
Treatment routes differ depending on many variables including the client, the severity of their experiences and their history with medication. However, the most common treatment routes include Psychotherapy, Medication, and a combination of the both. If the therapist decides to go the route of just Psychotherapy, the client and the therapist will typically agree on a set number of meetings and will make a plan for what they hope to accomplish from their sessions. This plan will usually include five steps to overcoming Panic Disorder. These include the Learning, Monitoring, Breathing, Rethinking, and Exposing steps. In the learning step, the person suffering learns about Panic Disorder, how to identify the symptoms, and the treatment plan. In the monitoring stage, the patient will record their experiences and any occurrences that might cause elevated anxiety. In the third phase “Breathing,” the patient will learn relaxation techniques to decrease the symptoms of Panic Disorder. The fourth phase, called “Rethinking” allows the patient to look at the symptoms they experience from a more optimistic perspective and includes discussing the possible outcomes of certain events. In the final stage, the patient exposes themselves to activities that previously made them anxious or were associated with panic attacks. While this has been proven to be a very effective treatment, medication is sometimes administered instead of,
A panic disorder is when one person has reoccurring bursts of anxiety and fear resulting in adverse physical symptoms that can last for many minutes (American Psychiatric Association & American Psychiatric Association 2013). These attacks can happen to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. The disorder is closely related to other disorders and often times are paired with other disorders such as agoraphobia (American Psychiatric Association et al. 2013). This disorder is debilitating to the people that it affects but can be treated and lived with. Often time’s individuals with this disorder live a good life but sometimes the individual’s have such intense attacks that they can barely leave the house for fear of having an attack.
There are three main types of anxiety disorders, one of them being Panic Disorder and Panic Attacks. In one of the electronic journals by the NIMH (2006), some quotes about this disorder said, “For me,a panic attack is almost a violent experience.I feel disconnected from reality.I feel like I'm losing control in a very extreme way. My heart pounds really hard,I feel like I can’t get my breath,and there’s an overwhelming feeling that things are crashing in on me.” and also, “In between attacks,there is this dread and anxiety that it’s going to happen again. I’m afraid to go back to places where I’ve had an attack. Unless I get help,there soon won’t be anyplace where I can go and feel safe from panic.”. A panic disorder is known as sudden attacks (panic attacks) of terror. Most of the time these attacks are accompanied with things such as, excessive sweating, a pounding heart, faintness and weakness. Panic disorder affects close to 6 million
Stressors initiate a response within the organism and causes changes in the body, specifically responses in the body’s autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system has two branches: the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nervous system. The sympathetic autonomic nervous system helps the body deal with the stress it encounters, initiating the ‘fight or flight’ response. Once the threat has passed, the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system will take over, relaxing the body. There is a balance between these two in a healthy person. However, when someone stays on guard, using the sympathetic autonomic nervous system, all sorts of physical effects can