A panic attack is a sudden rush of extreme fear that reaches a peak within a few minutes and triggers intense physical symptoms. Often when someone is experiencing a panic attack they feel as they they are totally losing control, having a heart attack or even dying. It can be common that these attacks can come from seemingly nowhere, even during sleep.
Having panic attacks does not necessarily mean someone has panic disorder. Someone could have one panic attack in their life and develop crippling panic disorder while someone else could have many panic attacks without panic disorder. Let me explain the difference.
Panic disorder when someone experiences at least one panic attack and has excessive anxiety and worry about having another panic attack. Anxiety about another panic attack and what would happen because of it may look like an of the following common fears:
- you’ll die
- you’ll lose control, faint, go crazy, vomit, or have diarrhea
- you’ll humiliate yourself, lose your job, or have to be hospitalized for psychiatric issues
The key factor is then that the someone with panic disorder changes their behavior to try and avoid having these horrible worries from happening. Here are a list of common behaviors people with panic disorder do to attempt to make themselves feel safe from panic.
- Carrying safety items at all times (medication, money, cell phone, pager, water)
- Always bringing someone along when leaving the house
- Needing to know where your spouse, partner, or other “safe” person is at all times
- Sitting close to exits when at the movies or in a restaurant
- Checking where the closest exit is
- Avoiding activities that increase your heart rate like exercise, sex and scary movies
- Frequently checking your pulse or blood pressure
- Using alcohol and drugs to calm you down
- Excessively avoiding substances like caffeine, alcohol, or foods that make you feel too energized
- Heavy reliance on distraction in order to keep calm (the phone, watching TV)
If you experience panic attacks but don’t relate to these behaviors listed above then you likely do not have panic disorder. However much can still be done to help you address the panic attacks.