Psychological Effects Of Panic Attacks

My Journey through Panic Attacks

Panic attacks have been studied and recorded through human history. They were first revealed in a medical book during the eighteenth century and then finally recognized as a psychiatric diagnosis in the late 1900’s. In today’s news, panic attacks are describe and a fearful and anxiety filled period of time where you feel like you can’t breathe. In this paper I will talk about panic attacks and the psychological effects, statistics, coping mechanisms and lastly my journey through it all.

Psychological Effects of Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are periods of intense fear and sudden rush of anxiety and panic. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2012). During the rush of overwhelming anxiety the heart pounds so fierce that

Signs and symptoms of panic attacks develop quickly and reach their climax in ten minutes and usually last fifteen to thirty-five minutes, but will not likely last more than 1 hour. Some symptoms are: rapid heart rate, sweating trembling, shortness of breath, hyperventilation, chills, hot flashes, nausea, abdominal cramping, chest pain, headache, dizziness, faintness, tightness in your throat, trouble swallowing, a sense of impending death and tingling sensations (Timberline, 2014). The causes of panic attacks are still very unclear to this day. But the tendency to have panic attacks depends on their genetics. After every panic attack a very powerful emotional toll is taken out of the person affected. Having one or two attacks over the course of a lifetime may not be the cause for concern. On the other hand, if a person has attacks frequently, the person affected should be concerned because this could mean that a serious problem is occurring where and individual can be diagnosed with panic disorder. Panic disorders and anxiety disorders are very

However, more severe cases of panic attacks or in other words panic disorders are more commonly studied due to the potential risk of killing someone. All of the statistics available on the internet are about panic disorders which are very closely related to panic attacks. The only difference between the two is how frequent the attacks occur. An estimated 2.4 million Americans suffer from panic disorder. Of all American 15% are likely to suffer from panic attack at some point in their lifetime (Tucson, 2014). The ratio between male and female Americans having panic disorder is 28:72; while the percentage of sufferers are married vs. the percentage who are divorced is 51:24. Although, the shocking percentages of people who abuse alcohol while being diagnosed and treated with panic disorder is 30, drugs are 17 and tranquilizers are 42. With that startling news the attempted suicide level is at 20% amongst