Syndicated Content from http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/oct/05/panic-attacks-are-a-natural-reaction/
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Many emergency room visits are made by people whose panic attack symptoms make them believe they are experiencing a heart attack. These symptoms can include pounding heart rate, feeling dizzy, sweating, feeling hot, chest pain, shakiness, fear of dying and going crazy and more.
Since these symptoms are real to a person, they can be frightening and the person feels extreme panic especially since these attacks tend to appear out of the blue. Some can appear in certain situations or circumstances.
What happens is that a person’s fight and flight response is activated beyond a person’s control. It happens automatically. This response can be useful, because it physically prepares us to run away from a real threat or to become stronger to fight a foe, when normally we may not able to run this fast or be such a strong fighter.
Emotions such as anger, fear, panic and anxiety are strong triggers of the fight/flight response. The central nervous system and the hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal parts of the brain produce a surge of adrenaline that leads to the basic survival instinct.
Bodily changes occur such as breathing, muscular tension, GI tract irritability, elevated heart rate — all in the absence of the need to run away from a tiger or fight an intruder. So people internalize the discomfort and attribute it to a threat to their own body, e.g. heart attack, or to themselves, e.g. I am going crazy. Therefore, it seems that people who experience panic attacks experience heightened internalization and/or are more sensitive to slight changes in mood or bodily symptoms, which are interpreted as dangerous or catastrophic.
People who do not experience a full blown panic attack tend to not respond to bodily symptoms as strongly and perceive them differently.
Since these attacks are so uncomfortable, people are highly motivated to avoid situations that they perceive as triggers. This ultimately can lead to more and more avoidance and dysfunctional behavior. There is help. Call your therapist, if your doctor ruled out a medical condition. There is no need for you to avoid fully participating in life and suffer.
My next column will address some of the original causes and triggers for panic attacks.
Evi Shaw is a licensed professional counselor in solo private practice, a diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association and an approved consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Contact her at Evishaw@verizon.net.
