Panic Attacks Anxiety Disorder

What is Panic Attacks Anxiety Disorder and how do you know if you have it?
Panic and anxiety disorders are two different things, it is possible though for a person to suffer from both and in fact one can lead to the other.
Anxiety itself is a completely normal bodily response when a person faces a situation that results in making them anxious. Everybody feels anxiety at some point in their life and that is normal, situations like public speaking, a new job, going on a date, getting married, starting a new school, all of these things and many more can make a person anxious.
It is when these feelings of anxiety become almost constant and are happening for no apparent reason, this is when it becomes an anxiety disorder. Sometimes a person will feel anxious or fearful for no reason and in an irrational way and if this is happening regularly then it can become a real problem.
A person that is anxious all the time may then develop a panic disorder. The stress that their mind is constantly under can lead to a panic attack and this will then cause them more anxiety which then further increases the chance of further attacks.
Not all people that suffer from panic disorder will have suffered from anxiety disorder first. For many people their panic attacks have started with no prior warning, just an attack out of the blue, although often it will happen after or during a period of high stress.
The biggest problem with panic attacks is that they are incredibly frightening and often people will have an intense fear of it happening again and this fear will often be the cause of another attack happening.
The fear continues and therefore so do the panic attacks and this is when you have a panic disorder, when you are having regular panic attacks.
People that suffer from panic attacks anxiety disorder are going through a very scary and very difficult time in their lives. The good news is that there is help available and this disorder can be stopped.
You do need to change the way that you think about situations and that requires a lot of will power and only you can make that decision to be determined to beat this disorder. Once you have made that decision you are one step closer to overcoming your panic and anxiety attacks.

Panic Disorder Symptoms

Panic attacks can be quite scary and the panic disorder symptoms may vary from person to person but generally involved an overwhelming feeling of horror and anxiety. The severity of symptoms may also vary from one person to another with some sufferers only experiencing mild attacks, while others suffer such severe attacks that they become too afraid to leave their own home.

Panic Disorder Symptoms can include:
• Dizziness
• Racing heart
• Chest pain
• Feeling light headed
• Sweating
• Extreme fear
• Breathing difficulty
• Feeling hot or cold
• Shivering or shakiness
• Overwhelming sense of dread

Often when a person experiences a panic attack for the first time they have no idea what is happening to them and many will actually believe that they are having a heart attack. The feelings are very scary and the fear of it happening again is often enough to bring on more attacks.

This can lead to a viscious cycle of fearing another attack and that fear then brings on another attack, which then leads to more fear of attacks. This cycle can be extremely difficult to break and then leads to full panic disorder.

To be able to break free from this cycle you must be able to face that fear and control your fear of having a panic attack. Many people will relate their attack to the situation or circumstance that they were in at the time of the attack. Because they relate their attack to that situation then they become fearful of it happening again in that same situation and therefore will avoid that situation.

You can imagine if your panic attack happened while you were shopping at the supermarket, this can be a very difficult situation to avoid. To overcome this fear of the situation you need to learn to handle your fear differently and learn to face that situation without fear.

The mind is a very powerful thing and unfortunately it is very powerful in a negative way in many cases. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘mind over matter’ well it is quite true and it is a matter of learning to change the way that your mind perceives fear and perceives particular situations so that you can live with them without having a panic attack.

To find out more about overcoming panic disorder visit our website Panic Disorder Symptoms