Essay On Panic Attacks

Improved Essays
How panic attacks affect personal and professional life

Panic attacks affect 2.4 million U.S. adults and often begin during the late teens and early adulthood and strikes twice as many American women as men. Now, what is a panic attack? A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that occurs for no apparent reason. It is a type of anxiety disorder that can only be described as a comprehensive emotional nightmare.
Panic attacks trigger strong physical reactions that result in frightening symptoms. A person experiencing an episode might confuse signs of panic attacks with symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. Panic attack sufferers report feeling a complete loss of control as symptoms peak, even feeling like they are dying.
These panic
…show more content…
The experience of panic can range from mild (where the person will have limited interference in their daily routine) to extremely severe (possibly resulting in being partially or completely housebound). The experience of panic for most panic sufferers is frightening and the avoidance can greatly alter one's lifestyle (e.g., inability to drive to work). As a change in their lifestyle becomes apparent, there is also a change in their personal relationships. Others around the person must take on more of the day-to-day routine and responsibilities (e.g., going to grocery stores or taking the kids to school). This may cause those around the panic sufferer to feel more stress from their increased duties. The additional stress experienced by the family can cause resentment and anger towards the person and then worsen the panic symptoms. At the same time, she or he may begin to show signs of depression as a result of their changed family role. The negativity that comes with depression may then lead the person to believe that they don't have the capability to improve their condition, and consequently increase their dependency, depression, and panic symptoms. If left untreated, this disorder can be

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The last symptoms are fear of losing control, fear of dying, and chills (DSM 5). There is also a last category, in which, a patient must fit at least one symptom. The symptoms are fear of another attack, worrying about the implications of the attack, and a change in behavior. As she has experienced panic attacks for most of her life. The DSM 5 describes a panic disorder as recurrent and unexpected panic attacks.…

    • 1929 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Or PTSD, is a very serious issue which affects millions of people in the U.S alone. You can develop the mental disorder through any traumatic event in your life. It is most commonly seen in veterans, policeman, firefighters, and rape or sexually abused victims. This horrid disease can affect several aspects throughout your life. It can cause you to lose relationships, your job, or even your life.…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Do you know that panic attack episodes can actually cripple you emotionally if left untreated? You will recognize if you have this problem if you experience an abnormal surge of overwhelming fear and anxiety. If this condition is left untreated it will eventually lead to panic disorders and other problems. If you are suffering from this condition you might withdraw from the usual activities that you use to do. Panic Away shows you a way out of this condition.…

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the past year, I have been having occurrences at night when I am falling asleep, and approaching the first stage of sleep, I begin to feel as if I am dying and I have a panic attack. This has been a result of my fear of death, especially with many people I know dying from accidents, disease, or age in the past few years. This sort of situation would be described as a form of Panic Disorder, since I have the common characteristics of feeling ill, beginning to get shaky, fast paced breathing, and overall uneasiness accompanied by fear. Panic disorder is when a person experiences sudden feelings of intense dread and they often live in fear of when the next attack might strike (Meyers & Dewall, 2014). Currently, I fear that it may happen…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anxiety Definition Essay

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Definition/description: The definition of anxiety is “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome”. Almost everyone has some form of anxiety, for some people anxiety come when they are getting ready for a big meeting at work or the first day of school or before they get married, this kind of anxiety is normal and healthy to have, it is just nerves and a temporary worry before something happens, this is not the anxiety that I will be talking about. What I am talking about is Anxiety Disorder, anxiety disorder is a disorder that makes people constantly worried, it can be something as small as having to go pick a friend up somewhere or having to drive to work or school or…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Furthermore, in some cases, people with the panic attack and agoraphobia’s condition tend to avoid friends or relatives due to their thoughts of embarrassment and feeling worried all the time. Additionally, people that are experiencing agoraphobia and panic attack completely changed their behavior as well as their functions of life and they became excessively dependent on their family…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the Health Service Executive, at least one in every ten individuals suffer from occasional panic attacks. Panic attacks occur as a result of a combination of psychological and physical symptoms. During a panic attack, individuals may experience a shortness of breath, chest tightness/pain, trembling, perspiration, nausea, dizziness, hot flushes, cold sweats, tense muscles, nausea, a sense of a loss of control, among other symptoms. Panic attacks often occur out of the blue and are frightening; sudden feelings of terror and sheer panic ensue. Many individuals often misinterpret their symptoms as a heart attack.…

    • 141 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First, you need to go see a psychiatrist (doctor) and a psychologist (therapist). The doctor will be able to diagnose you and tell you if you need any medication to help you for a while. As for me, I'm on an antidepressant that has helped amazingly with panic attacks. Also, I have another drug that helps calm me down if I get one…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Treatment of Panic Attack What is a Panic attack? A Panic attack is sudden overpowering sentiment intense and handicapping anxiety. As it were, a fit of anxiety is an unexpected scene of extraordinary understanding that causes extreme physical reactions when no real danger or apparent reason.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Panic Disorders Case Paper

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Comer (2014) goes into depth about how this occurs, “In such cases, the panic disorder typically sets the stage for the development of agoraphobia. That is, after experiencing multiple unpredictable panic attacks, the individuals become increasingly fearful of having new attacks in public places” (p. 122). As explained in the DSM IV, panic disorder agoraphobia is when an individual has recurrent panic attacks, is anxious about going places where escape may be difficult or embarrassing, or where they will be unable to receive assistance in case of emergency, and the symptoms cannot be better explained by another medical or psychological effect. In our textbook, Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology, Comer (2014) explains that someone must have at least four of the following symptoms to be considered, “…symptoms of panic: palpitations of the heart, tingling in the hands or feet, shortness of breath, sweating, hot and cold flashes, trembling, chest pains, choking sensations, faintness, dizziness, nausea, a feeling of unreality, fear of losing control, and fear of dying” (p.…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These attacks can occur without any prior warning and for no any apparent reason. The number of episodes may vary from one to the other, so does the frequency and duration of these attacks. Recognizing Anxiety or Panic Attacks. Identifying a panic attack isn’t always easy, because the symptoms manifest themselves in many different ways. They include chest pains, increased heartbeat or palpitation, upset stomach, hyperventilation or shortness of breath, trembling and shaking, muscle tension, sweating, stomach churning, dizziness and light-headedness, hot or cold flashes, tingling sensation or numbness, going crazy, losing control and fear of dying, most of these symptoms can be non-life threatening.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    People with SAD feel there is something wrong with themselves; they are self-conscious and they feel like they are being judged by others. Panic attacks happen when affected people have excessive fear in some situations. There are limitations for SAD people in academic, maintenances of unfulfilling relationships, professional, and sexual life. Therefore; these individuals diagnosed with SAD experienced difficulties in affective relationships which most of them being single, separated, or divorced. They have the tendency to be unemployment and financially dependent on their relatives.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Panic disorder results from a panic attack (false alarm) becoming associated with either an interoceptive or exteroceptive cue through the conditioning process (Mineka and Barlow 2001). Furthermore, it is apparent that the more intense of a panic attack, the greater likelihood of developing panic disorder (Mineka & Oehlberg 2008). Based on literature, a panic attack represents emergent reactions to prepare for impending or ongoing threats (Bouton et al., 2001). This is unlike illness phobias primarily because the interoceptive cue associated with the anticipatory anxiety is generally specific to a specific type of reaction (e.g., cardiac-type phobia reacting to heart related issues such as chest pain or tachycardia) whereas panic disorder…

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Narrative Essay On Anxiety

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Typically, they both are accompanied by increased heart rate and dizziness. However, panic attacks tend to be more intense than anxiety. There are also more symptoms accompanied with a panic attack. Ways to minimize the amount of attacks are therapy and medication. I have gone through this in my own life.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people deal with these day to day and are too embarrassed to talk about them or sometimes even acknowledge their existence. People often will end up going to the emergency room claiming they had a heart attack until the doctor tells them they just had a panic attack. Panic attack? What are these? How do they arise?…

    • 1059 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays