Beware of 9 Signs of Panic Attack!

A panic attack is viewed as a brief period of intense anxiety that causes feelings of physical fear. These can include a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness, tremors, and muscle tension. Panic attacks can occur frequently and unexpectedly and are often not related to any external threat. Specialist from Memorial Antalya Hospital Psychiatry Department. Dr. Seda Yavuz told what should be known about panic attacks.

Not every panic attack sufferer has panic disorder.

Panic attacks are episodes of intense anxiety or fear that come on suddenly and recur in an unpredictable way, leaving the person terrified. People often refer to these seizures as "crises". Not every panic attack sufferer has panic disorder. The probability of having at least one panic attack in life was found to be 10%. Panic attacks can occur in many mental illnesses. Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder with spontaneous and unexpected panic attacks.

You may be in the risk group for panic attacks

• First-degree relatives with panic disorder or other anxiety disorder
• Those with distressed, fussy, hasty, perfectionist personality traits
• Those with a predisposition or addiction to alcohol or other addictive substances
• People with a history of panic attacks, social phobia or other anxiety disorders, or depression
• Those under constant pressure
• People who do not reflect their thoughts and feelings to the outside, who constantly suppress their desires, Those who have an avoidant personality structure
• People who are overly ambitious, success-oriented, and self-blaming in failures

The physical and physiological symptoms of a panic attack are as follows:

1. Palpitations, feeling heartbeats or increased heart rate
2. Sweating, shivering, elevated blood pressure
3. Can't breathe, feeling of suffocation, shortness of breath
4. Numbness or tingling sensation
5. Chest pain or feeling of tightness in the chest
6. nausea or abdominal pain
7. Dizziness, feeling light-headed, fainting
8. Perception of oneself or the environment as altered or different
9. chills, hot cold flashes, frequent urination

Diagnosis is made based on the presence of symptoms.

It is not clear when and where panic attacks will occur, and the dominant symptoms may vary from person to person. Along with the symptoms listed above, there is almost always a fear of death, loss of control, or going crazy. Once a person has had a panic attack, they have a constant fear that they will have another panic attack, this is called anticipatory anxiety. This is an important symptom for making a diagnosis. If these symptoms are present for at least six months in environments where there is no external danger and affect the daily life of the person, the disease can be diagnosed and a specialist should be consulted.

Panic attack treatment is applied in 2 stages;

Panic disorder is a treatable disease. Today, there are two types of treatments, the effectiveness of which has been proven by scientific studies.

Medication:

In the treatment of the disease, drugs are used that prevent "Panic Attacks" by correcting the hormonal activities of the nerve cells in the brain. There are many drugs used in the treatment of this disease and their effectiveness has been proven. The dosage and duration of the drugs are determined under the control of a specialist doctor.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy:

With this therapy method, the cognitive structure of the person is reconstructed and in fact, false information and beliefs about some of the usual panic attack symptoms are corrected. It is aimed to teach the person to cope with these symptoms without fear. On the other hand, with a number of behavioral interventions, it is aimed to gradually compare the places and situations that he avoids to be alone because he fears that a panic attack will occur, and thus overcome his fears.

In this treatment, the doctor tells his patient; Activities that he avoids due to fear and panic (such as being in closed or crowded places, going out alone) are practiced within a plan, starting with the simplest ones and gradually going on. With these exercises performed with increasing durations, the patient's sense of confidence increases, who sees that nothing negative has happened to him.