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What is a Panic Attack?

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What is a Panic Attack?


What is a panic attack?



A panic attack can be seen to have 3 different areas: 

• You will feel anxiety and fear very intensely, almost as if somebody is holding a gun to you head.  This is often accompanied by a feeling of impending doom.  It is very frightening and can leave a person petrified of having another one.


• The attack happens quite suddenly, and usually the person is either afraid of something externally (your surroundings) or afraid of something internally (such as what if I'm having a heart attack?)

• The panicky feelings come in waves with the initial feeling being extremely frightening.  Other waves of panic then come over the person until they had found a 'safe place'.  The sufferer will almost always have anxiety accompanying the panic.  The panic will often leave the person physically drained and exhausted, and after the attack it can leave lots of unpleasant symptoms which will leave a person feeling uncomfortable.


An initial Panic Attack may have been brought on by a stressful period in one’s life or it may be caused by not looking after your body in the right way.  But a cycle of panic is always accompanied by negative thoughts and a sense of dread.  People often describe how their passion for life has gone and they now fear things that they once enjoyed.

Panic tends to generate feelings that you are going crazy or that you will die.  Another factor is that people feel they will make a fool of themselves in front of other people and tend to avoid busy places or social contact.  There are often numerous thought processes which lead to a person panicking. panic attack

Panic can really take two forms - there is the 'out of the blue' panic attack where people can experience extreme feelings of panic when they are in a relaxed situation, i.e. watching TV.  Then there are scenarios where individuals are thinking about a situation (for example going to the shops) where they imagine all the different circumstances which may cause them to panic.  This is often cause anticipatory anxiety and leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The individual will nearly always have panicky feeling when the event takes place. 

It is worth saying that Panic Attacks are NOT a serious mental illness and they will NOT harm you.  The condition in its simplest form is a habit that somebody has learned and it can be unlearnt.   They are also extremely common with as many as 1 in 4 people have had at least one panic attack in their life.  That’s millions of people who have experienced this although not everyone will develop a panic attack disorder which will restrict their life.

For some they may go through a period in their life for a short time when they experience panic.  It then naturally goes away when they come out of a stressful period or are comforted by the fact that a doctor has told them there is nothing wrong.

Although the situation is steadily changing there is still a stigma with mental health problems and this can lead to suffers keeping the problem to themselves, or delaying in seeking professional help.  Sometimes even their closest friends or relatives are unaware of how ill they feel and often the person will make excuses to avoid being in places where they think they will have a panic attack.  Quite often even if they do confide in someone that person has no idea how scared and anxious they can feel.  Many people totally give up hope and never seek help and confine themselves to their house, this is often referred to as agoraphobia.

Below are some books I have personally read and recommend if you wish to have more in-depth knowledge. They also definitely help in recovery from panic attacks and anxiety.














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