Facts About Panic Disorder

Usually, when you are experiencing fast heart palpitations, combined with dizziness, a sense of impending and irrational fear or terror, then most likely, what you are experiencing is panic disorder. Looking for the right treatments that will address panic attacks is never such an easy task, given the fact that you do not fully understand the nature of the disease that torments you. It is a good thing, though, that there are already many such kinds of treatments.

One of the main indicators that you have panic disorder is the presence of panic attacks. These are mainly characterized by intense fear, coupled by dizziness and an unusually rapid heart rate, among others. Another fact is that it occurs unexpectedly and repeatedly. In this case, a body’s fight or flight system is activated on the wrong context. Whenever a person suffer panic disorder, then it is very likely that that person would do his or her best to avoid believed causes of such attacks.

Almost 3 million people are already suffering from panic attacks once in their lifetime, and this data is for the US alone. Older people and children alike can be affected by this disorder, although the most common affected ones are young adults. Also, women are more likely to be suffering from anxiety attacks panic attacks, which does not choose any race.

Initial cases of panic attack happens randomly, where it can happen at any our and any day, usually without warning, lasting from several minutes even until several hours. Such attacks can be induced by prior stressful experiences like death or childbirth. Additional known causes of these are stimulants and medicines consumed.

However, the good fact here is that most people may not develop a panic disorder although they may experience occasional panic attacks.

All about panic disorder

One of the most common indicators of panic disorder is the recurrence of panic attacks. Panic disorder is also described as the fear and anticipatory anxiety, which if left untreated, could affect seriously one’s life. A person may stop driving a car or riding an elevator whenever that person experiences attacks on those instances. Everyday activity can also be disrupted. From work to intimate relationships, this disorder truly is a bad thing to have.

Even during sleep, one may experience anxiety attacks panic attacks, as long as that person experiences panic disorder. The worst case here is when the patient already fears sleep itself, due to the fear that sleeping may trigger attacks. This further complicates the matter.

Agoraphobia, a more advances stage, can be experienced by the patient when panic disorder is left untreated. Agoraphobia may cause a person to become afraid of any place or any situation and he or she may escape to come out of it. Agoraphobia also causes a person to fear standing in line, crowds of people or even riding cars. Once a person is affected by agoraphobia, then, expect that person to be left at home disabled.

Treating panic disorder

To prevent the disorder from progressing, as well as to stop panic attacks, one of the most important ways for you to do is to seek treatment for panic disorder. One of the most effective ways to treat it is cognitive behavioral therapy. In cognitive behavioral therapy, patients are made to properly understand thoughts and feelings whenever an attack comes. Also, patients are helped by therapists to first recognize signs of an attack so that responses to it can be modified. This also enables the patient to have greater control over the disease.