Panic Attacks
Sometimes the brain's alarm system misreads danger signals, like a vast sprinkler misreading cigarette smoke as a fire, drenching everyone right in the middle of the grand ball. This alarm system, regulated by a group of nerves deep in your brain called the locus ceruleus, can simply go berserk. The name of this problem is panic disorder. And worry can be one of its cardinal symptoms. In panic disorder, a specific stimulus sets off a flood of terror.
Everyone who has felt panic knows how it hijacks the body: the rapid breathing and racing pulse, the burning waves of fear coursing through the body, the desperate feeling of needing to break free. Panic is the nervous system's turbo-charged means of escape. When panic strikes at the wrong time, however, it's like having an airplane take off in your living room.
Adrienne was standing in line at her bank one day when panic struck. "Suddenly, I became terrified. I felt as if I were being dragged to the edge of a cliff where someone was going to push me off. I broke out into a sweat, started to shake, then my legs gave out and I just collapsed to the floor."
"Do you have any idea what triggered this episode?" I asked her when she came to see me a few weeks later.
"I usually have no idea when an attack will hit," she replied. "It just happens. Sometimes I have three attacks in one week. It's crippling me."
Adrienne had begun to put off doing the most routine errands, saying she felt too nervous to go outside. She was developing agoraphobia, a condition that accompanies panic disorder up to 50 percent of the time. Agoraphobia is characterized by an intense fear of, and avoidance of, places or situations in which escape may be difficult or one imagines a panic attack may occur.
Panic disorder may show itself as social phobia, fear of public speaking, or of being the center of attention. It responds well to medication, as well as to desensitization techniques and cognitive therapy. By a variety of methods, those with the disorder are gradually and safely exposed to the source of their panic and worry: The intensity of the stimulus is slowly increased, and homework is often prescribed. This therapy alone has a success rate of 60 to 80 percent.
There is another kind of worry that is characterized by panic. But it is rarely focused on a single topic. It is called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and there is usually no apparent cause for the anxiety. It is free-floating. When GAD underlies worry, the thoughts can seem like mosquitoes. This means that they should be no big deal: just slap them away. But if you are surrounded by them, slapping them away constantly becomes, at best, tiring. Furthermore, they leave bites that itch and must be scratched. Like panic disorder, GAD can be treated successfully.
Everyone who has felt panic knows how it hijacks the body: the rapid breathing and racing pulse, the burning waves of fear coursing through the body, the desperate feeling of needing to break free. Panic is the nervous system's turbo-charged means of escape. When panic strikes at the wrong time, however, it's like having an airplane take off in your living room.
Adrienne was standing in line at her bank one day when panic struck. "Suddenly, I became terrified. I felt as if I were being dragged to the edge of a cliff where someone was going to push me off. I broke out into a sweat, started to shake, then my legs gave out and I just collapsed to the floor."
"Do you have any idea what triggered this episode?" I asked her when she came to see me a few weeks later.
"I usually have no idea when an attack will hit," she replied. "It just happens. Sometimes I have three attacks in one week. It's crippling me."
Adrienne had begun to put off doing the most routine errands, saying she felt too nervous to go outside. She was developing agoraphobia, a condition that accompanies panic disorder up to 50 percent of the time. Agoraphobia is characterized by an intense fear of, and avoidance of, places or situations in which escape may be difficult or one imagines a panic attack may occur.
Panic disorder may show itself as social phobia, fear of public speaking, or of being the center of attention. It responds well to medication, as well as to desensitization techniques and cognitive therapy. By a variety of methods, those with the disorder are gradually and safely exposed to the source of their panic and worry: The intensity of the stimulus is slowly increased, and homework is often prescribed. This therapy alone has a success rate of 60 to 80 percent.
There is another kind of worry that is characterized by panic. But it is rarely focused on a single topic. It is called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and there is usually no apparent cause for the anxiety. It is free-floating. When GAD underlies worry, the thoughts can seem like mosquitoes. This means that they should be no big deal: just slap them away. But if you are surrounded by them, slapping them away constantly becomes, at best, tiring. Furthermore, they leave bites that itch and must be scratched. Like panic disorder, GAD can be treated successfully.
This entry was posted by Mandy, on
Wednesday, May 13, 2009.
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