Panic attack: symptoms, causes and remedies
The causes of a panic attack are manifold. Our days are filled with commitments, worries and anxieties that only add to our stress. While for some it is enough to know how to fight stress, for others, however, the problem gets worse.
Surely, however, all those who suffer from anxiety will recognize themselves in these symptoms and examples.
One thing is certain: anxiety is female. It is scientifically proven and this video explains why.
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Anxiety does not always necessarily have to be seen as a problem: this in fact, if confined to small and sporadic episodes, can be easily managed and indeed can help us to better focus on what is happening around or within us.
The difficulties come when we have the perception that anxiety is about to take over and we are unable to control it: in this case, our body often short-circuits and leaves us immobile and terrified. That's when a panic attack occurs - what to do in that case?
How a panic attack manifests itself: symptoms and causes
The causes of panic attack are many: certainly genetics and stress greatly influence the occurrence and duration of a panic attack. Among the risk factors, we highlight: a family history of panic attacks, the death of a person dear, major changes in everyday life or traumatic events.
As well as the causes, the symptoms of panic attacks are also many: palpitations, rapid heartbeat, sweating, tremors, choking, chest pain, nausea or abdominal discomfort, feeling faint, feeling unreal (not knowing where you are or what you were doing), depersonalization (feeling detached from yourself), fear of going crazy or dying, numbness or tingling sensations in parts of the body and chills or hot flashes.
The duration of the panic attack varies from individual to individual: symptoms usually peak in the first ten minutes and fade in the first half hour. In severe cases, however, a panic attack can last up to a full day. In addition, those who suffer from recurrent, unexpected panic attacks who live in fear of their occurrence for at least a month, may run into a disorder called “panic disorder”.
The difference between anxiety attack and panic attack
It is important to understand what a panic attack is to be able to deal with it in the best possible way. Often, in fact, the panic attack is compared to an anxiety attack and vice versa: in truth they are two different psychological conditions, both in intensity and in duration. An anxiety crisis is a condition in which you have very strong and intense fears, while a panic attack is a condition in which you can get to lose touch with reality. The anxiety crisis is more common and less intense, but, not for this reason, less severe.
Whether it is anxiety or panic, many people who suffer from these crises often begin to decrease social activities and their emotional relationships, stop driving for fear of having a driving attack, no longer go to the cinema or dinner out for the fear of having a crisis and not being able to manage it, they avoid going out with friends so as not to have to explain the reasons for the malaise and in the most serious cases they leave their work for fear that an attack could occur in front of the boss and colleagues. These individuals often feel the home is the only safe place.
Panic attack in pregnancy: how to control it
Unfortunately, some women may discover the existence of the panic attack in pregnancy.
It is not certain that a subject at risk is predisposed to a panic attack in pregnancy, indeed: a scientific study has found that the symptoms in pregnancy are probably milder thanks to the coverage of progesterone, a hormone that increases during pregnancy.
It is important to have routine checks and daily breathing techniques to help control our anxieties, which are naturally duplicated when we are pregnant. Practicing yoga, for example, is one of the most recommended possible ways. Contact a specialist to understand which path is best to take.
Panic attack: the remedies
After understanding how a panic attack manifests itself, one must look for remedies and solutions to overcome one. Often we only resort to pharmacological remedies, certainly fundamental in many cases, but equally useless to definitively resolve the real reasons why crises and attacks take over us. Medicines, even of the homeopathic type, can certainly be useful in circumscribing the problem and controlling its manifestations, but to arrive at a solution, the person must learn to know himself and above all to reflect consciously on himself. Often a psychotherapy becomes a useful path because it is directly aimed at identifying the root causes and really triggering this situation. Very often people who suffer from these attacks live in anxiety that they arise, but they deny it on the outside, mistakenly believing that time will heal them. There is nothing more false: it is important that those who suffer from it can get help and support, because it is the only real way to get out of it for good.
For more information about panic attacks, you can visit the Humanitas hospital website.
