Anxiety & Panic

Anxiety, Explained Simply

What happened to the body during a state of anxiety? A feeling of disquiet is induced by an outside thought, influence, or situation. The heart rate starts to speed up, the blood begins to move through the body more rapidly, and the breathing becomes shallow. As the breath becomes more shallow the lungs do not fill to capacity and when breath is exhaled all the air in lungs is not expelled. This creates a sort of negative feedback loop between the body and the brain. The body is exhibiting the signs of anxiety and the brain gets the message, “here’s some anxiety here” and it tells the body to show the physical signs of anxiety. Then the brain and body say, “Whoops, here are the physical signs of anxiety; this is really scary.” This keeps building up and that is what starts a panic attack.

If we can learn to break the negative feedback loop between the brain and the body we can start to control the anxiety. Breathing techniques, visualization exercises, meditation techniques and re-orienting self-talk and thinking are all helpful in taking control.

Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic attacks are sudden surges of overwhelming fear that can come without warning and sometimes without an obvious reason. This is more intense than the feelings of anxiety or feeling “stressed out” that are felt by all of us. One out or 75 people will experience a panic attack at some time in their life.

Full-blown repeated panic attacks can be very disabling. People who experience them should seek out treatment so they do not have to avoid places or situations where they may have experienced a panic attack. For example, if a person has had a panic attack going over a bridge, that person could develop a fear of bridges and this may affect the routes a person will travel by and could severely limit where the person will be able to go.

Although panic attacks are not dangerous they can feel terrifying. People can feel ‘out of control’ or ‘crazy’. A Panic disorder is frightening because of the panic attacks associated with it. Also, untreated panic disorders can lead to other complications such as phobias, depression, medical complications or substance abuse. Psychotherapy often in conjunction with the right medication can be very powerful in treating panic disorders.