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Panic attacks: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment Methods

You are at work, on the street or at a beach and suddenly you feel something suffocating you as if everything is coming at you. The space seems to narrow and the environment becomes blurry, without specific dimensions. Your heart is pounding, your legs are shaking, and you’re afraid you’re going to pass out, go into cardiac arrest, and die. You have the feeling that everyone around you is looking at you and you are paralyzed with fear.

That whole feeling when you’re having a panic attack seems like an eternity that never ends, while the maximum time it happens is around 15 minutes.

The first few times you had a panic attack you probably went to a hospital emergency room or your doctor. Next time, however, you knew where the root of this panic lies.

What are panic attacks?

A panic attack is the sudden onset of fear and anxiety, regardless of where you are, accompanied by intense physical symptoms that appear to be real. A panic attack, however, is not a danger to your life, on the contrary, it is the mirror of your fear and anxiety that have reached a peak inside you and are looking for a way to vent. Panic attack episodes can happen in isolation or become an unpleasant, frightening daily routine for you until you psychologically deal with them and overcome them or learn how to deal with them better.

Statistical data about panic attacks

  • 5% of teenagers get panic attacks.
  • Teens whose parents had panic attacks are 8 times more likely to have panic attacks.
  • Women aged 25-35 are more vulnerable to panic attacks.
  • 1 in 10 people will have a panic attack at some point in their life.
  • In major humanitarian crises, such as the covid-19 pandemic or a climate disaster, the proportion of people experiencing panic attacks peaks as more people see their lives change overnight and feel intense insecurity and fear about their future.

Panic attacks Symptoms

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The symptoms of panic attacks are intense while they last, so they usually leave you with an intense feeling of exhaustion and weakness.

The main physical symptoms are:

  • Sweating
  • Trembling of hands / legs
  • Fast heartbeats
  • Shortness of breath / Chest tightness
  • Dizziness / Tendency to faint
  • Excitement
  • Dry mouth
  • Chills
  • Numbness
  • Muscle tightness

The main psychological symptoms are:

  • Inability to concentrate
  • Feeling of loss of control
  • Fear of exposure
  • Fear of death
  • Terror / panic

Depending on where your first panic attack episode occurred, the panic attack may make you fearful and avoidant, e.g. if you get it while driving, you may never want to drive again.

Panic attacks are linked to your existing phobias, or they can trigger new ones, such as agoraphobia, the fear of being in an open, crowded place. Many people who have agoraphobia avoid even leaving their house.

Especially agoraphobia is caused, because you are afraid that an episode will happen to you again while you are in the middle of people, and you will be exposed, you will become “resilient” and you do not know how to escape, without being understood.

Ultimately, the biggest symptom of panic attacks is the fear of when the next episode will happen to you again.

If it makes you feel safer, get the basic blood and heart tests to rule out pathological causes. The diagnosis of panic attacks will be made by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Medication will be given to you by the psychiatrist, only if deemed necessary.

Panic attacks have no age

Panic attacks usually begin in adolescence, and can occur in adults, the elderly, and in rarer cases, even children (eg if they are bullied at school). In these cases, vigilance is needed from parents so that their children understand what is happening to them and do not create traumas for which they will later seek relief in alcohol or drugs.

Panic attacks Causes

As scary and frightening as the intense physical symptoms may seem, the root of panic attacks is purely psychological.

The most likely causes of panic attacks are:

  • Link to anxiety disorder or other mental disorder / illness
  • Life change (negative / positive) that causes intense stress
  • A violent experience
  • Family history
  • Bad childhood

Treatment for panic attacks

There is treatment for panic attacks, you just have to look for it.

It is important to seek professional help immediately. Because, as long as you let the panic attack happen to you, without having some psychological help, it gets bigger and can turn into a panic disorder or phobia, as we mentioned above, or you feel like you’re at a dead end and you have suicidal thoughts.

Also, although panic attacks in the first stage do not threaten your health, if you do not seek help, and very intense stress and fear accumulate in your body, then these can manifest over time with real health problems.

The specialist will judge whether your treatment will be exclusively psychological monitoring, or whether a medication will be needed for some time, until you feel more confident and strong yourself.

Psychological explanation of panic attacks

Panic attacks are a manifestation of emotions inside you that you don’t know how else to find an outlet to discharge.

If you have panic attacks, your self is ringing a bell to look within, see what you feel and find solutions.

You may be experiencing a negative event, such as losing your job, and this situation has filled you with panic.

  • Will you find another job again?
  • How will you manage financially until you get back to work?
  • What do other people think of you for losing your job?

and many other emotions that become alarm and panic attack is just their bell. However, you may also experience a positive event, such as getting married. Even positive events, because they involve a major change in your lifestyle, can trigger panic.

Ask yourself, why are you panicking about your impending marriage?

  • Are you afraid of losing your freedom?
  • Not sure you’re marrying the right person?
  • Are you a perfectionist and are you intimidated by the many preparations?

No one can give more correct answers than you. As scary as they are, give them honestly, to untangle the knot within you and find your solutions.

Finally, panic can occur because you are between two options and cannot decide. This wavering within you, especially if it is between something you want to do and something you must do, divides you and creates panic within you. Essentially, you have a lot of resistance within yourself to choose, resulting in a panic attack.

How to best deal with a panic attack episode

Once you understand that what is happening to you is a panic attack and that you are not in physical danger, it becomes somewhat easier to deal with it.

  • Each panic attack reaches its peak in about 15 minutes. While you are experiencing the episode, find a place where you feel safe, stay in one position cool, and let the time pass. You will feel better soon.
  • Put your hands on your stomach. Focus on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling. Try to take as many deep breaths as possible.
  • Focus on an object in space so you can think of something else and regain your concentration. Describe yourself, this object (color, size, what it is used for).
  • Count down from 50 to 1. This process will focus you on something other than your symptoms and calm you down.
  • Drink water in small sips.

Energy and panic attacks

Your thoughts and feelings are not hidden, no matter how deep you bury them in the subconscious. Instead, there are blockages to the flow of energy within your body. Therefore, you feel that your body is trembling, afraid, numb, paralyzed. By releasing negative thoughts and feelings, energy circulates freely in your chakras again and you feel light and bright.

Don’t be afraid to see the darkness within you. That’s the only way you’ll come out into the light again. Lie down and feel every part of the body, from your head to your toes. Focus on each point, “sending” it a separate light, or visualize that you are whole in a ball of light that cleanses and rejuvenates you.

Take deep breaths, let the light wash over you, relax into it. Use the power of healing crystals, which “take” negativity from you and fill you according to their special properties, with strength, self-confidence, peace.

Say positive statements such as:

  • I recognize what is happening to me and release it
  • I release my fear, I release panic
  • I feel safe
  • I have confidence in myself
  • I listen to what my body tells me and take care of it

Energy Healing – Your Growth Guide

Leave the panic behind and move forward with renewed energy in your life.

Come together to release the negative feelings and thoughts that keep you in a place of numbness and weakness and feel your strong, free, true self again.

Whichever energy treatment you choose, it will work in addition to the instructions of the psychologist or the treatment of your psychiatrist. No medications are provided.

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