Everything You Need to Know About Panic Attacks
Whether you’ve only had your first panic attack or you’ve had many panic attacks, it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed, scared and powerless in the face of them.
You’re not alone. Panic attacks are surprisingly common. In fact, some studies suggest that more than 13% of people have experienced a panic attack at some point in their lifetime.
You might also be surprised to learn that panic attacks are very treatable. There are a number of treatment options available that can help you get back in control of your life. Our article is here to guide you through everything you need to know about panic attacks.
What Are Panic Attacks?
Panic attacks are difficult to define because of the contrast between the psychological and physical symptoms. In essence, they’re a physical manifestation of a psychological problem.
Panic Attack Symptoms
Each individual experiences panic attacks differently, so there are varying panic attack symptoms. Some of these symptoms include:
Accelerated heart rate and palpitations
Shortness of breath
Shaking or trembling
Sweating
Numbness or tingling in limbs
Dizziness
Nausea
Fear of dying
If you’ve never had a panic attack before, your first one, in particular, can be absolutely terrifying. As you can see from the symptoms above, any of these symptoms happening out of the blue would be a huge cause for concern. In fact, people sometimes worry they’re having a heart attack or allergic reaction. Then this fear they are in danger of death actually causes the panic attack to get even worse.
However, these are all normal fear responses for the body. If you were in an actual life or death situation, all these physical responses would be expected.
In fact, these responses are designed to put your body into fight or flight mode. This is an ingrained response that helped humans survive thousands of years ago.
The difference when having a panic attack is that there is likely no “real” danger. It all stems from the brain.
Causes of Panic Attacks
If there’s no real danger, you’d be right to wonder what the underlying cause of panic attacks could be.
But there are no easy answers here.
Because of the physical nature of symptoms of panic attacks, the first port of call is always to go see your physician. This is to rule out any physical explanations for the panic attack. People often do this naturally because they are so concerned there is a physical cause for the symptoms. But once your physician has ruled out a physical cause, it’s common for them to then recommend treatment for panic attacks.
Once a physical cause for your symptoms has been ruled out, panic attacks can be triggered by any number of things and these triggers will differ from person to person. For example, someone may have a panic attack that is triggered by work stress while another may have a panic attack due to a traumatic event.
These examples are obvious, but often panic attack triggers are not so obvious. The reality is, anyone can have a panic attack and there may be no clear reason as to why.
What happens when a person experiences anxiety about future panic attacks?
If a person experiences anxiety about future panic attacks, they may start to avoid things, places or situations where they're worried they'll have a panic attack. This can actually reinforce the anxiety and eventually contribute to the development of panic disorder.
Panic Disorder
To further complicate things, sometimes the cause of panic attacks is panic disorder. Panic attacks and panic disorder are often confused, but they’re two distinct conditions.
Someone with panic disorder will have had a panic attack. But then they start to experience more stress and anxiety fearing that they’ll have another panic attack. Unfortunately, this stress and anxiety can lead to more panic attacks and more anxiety to follow. This cycle continues with every panic attack, making their fear of panic attacks even greater. Soon, the person may start making changes to their life because of the panic attacks. For instance, someone might quit a job, stop going to classes, stop driving, or avoiding other situations where they’re really worried about what would happen if they had a panic attack.
In this sense, panic disorder is a chronic mental condition while panic attacks may be a one-time occurrence.
Similar to panic attacks, anyone can suffer from panic disorder. This said women are 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with panic disorder than their male counterparts.
With such horrible symptoms and often no clear cause, those who suffer from panic attacks or panic disorder can feel powerless in the face of them. However, these conditions are very treatable.
Panic Attack Treatments
The good news is that we have some really effective treatment options for panic attacks. There are two primary treatment options for panic attacks: medication and psychotherapy. We’ll look at each.
Prescription Medication
Prescription medication is a popular treatment option for panic attacks. Physicians prescribe a couple of common options including antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications.
Antidepressant medications like SSRIs help reduce can help reduce panic attacks as they decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression, which may be the underlying cause of a panic attack.
Meanwhile, anti-anxiety medications have a sedative effect, so they’re more focused on reducing the symptoms of a panic attack than reducing the possibility of one.
Any of these medications may be a great option for dealing with the symptoms of panic attacks or panic disorder, but none of them deal with the underlying cause or trigger for the attacks. This is where psychotherapy comes in.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a very effective treatment for panic disorder and panic attacks.
Medication only deals with surface-level issues, while a counselor looks to figure out what the root causes of the panic attacks may be.
Once a trigger is understood, your clinician can help you work through it so you can get back in control of your response to it. This could include talking through the trigger and learning situations to avoid.
Eventually, it may also include exposing yourself to the trigger so you deal with your anxiety around it. This can be uncomfortable at times, but it's vital in treating the underlying cause of the anxiety that's inducing panic attacks, especially in panic disorder.
The goal of this is for your brain to learn the fight or flight response is not necessary. This can help improve your long-term health substantially.
The effectiveness and responsiveness of psychotherapy varies from patient to patient. Sometimes people notice some improvement in a matter of only a few weeks, but it typically takes several months of therapy to fully treat this and make sure your panic attacks don’t come back the next time you’re faced with a trigger.
Medication + Counseling = Comprehensive Treatment for Panic Attacks
Medication prescribed by a psychiatrist alongside psychotherapy is often the best treatment choice for panic attacks and panic disorder. For example, a psychiatrist may provide you with some medication to help you function for a couple of months while you work with your therapist. Then, once you’ve made some progress, your psychiatrist might start weaning you off your medication while you’re still working with your therapist. In fact, your psychiatrist and your psychotherapist may often ask for permission to consult with each other to work on your case.
This ensures they're both offering you treatments that complement one another. So you have the most effective plan in place to manage current anxiety whilst getting to the underlying cause.
It’s important here to note that if you’re taking medication for anxiety you’ll want to make sure your therapist knows. You may be asked to schedule your counseling appointments or plan your homework activities at least a couple of hours after you last took any PRN medication for anxiety to get the most benefits.
Panic Attack Treatment is Very Effective
I feel like with everything that has happened in the past year with Covid, I’ve heard more people than ever talking about having panic attacks. Unfortunately, I’ve also heard a lot of people express that this is just something they have to live with. Maybe they’re taking medication, but they think they’re just stuck with living in fear of when the next panic attack might strike. This breaks my heart to hear because I’ve personally seen how effective treatment can be.
Don’t get me wrong, panic disorder treatment (or treatment for any other anxiety disorder that’s become pretty intense) is very difficult. It can be scary at times, and you’ll have a strong urge to skip counseling appointments or give yourself reasons to not complete your homework. But if you lean in, work closely with a therapist, and practice the exposure activities you’ve been given you CAN get better.
Psychotherapy for panic attacks can be kind of scary at first because the most effective therapy for anxiety includes exposure which means facing the fear head-on. And let's face it, panic attacks are scary, so facing that anxiety doesn’t feel comfortable. But a good anxiety therapist will work first to build safety and trust inside therapy sessions and be very strategic in how they use exposure. I've personally treated many people with panic attacks and the other clinicians at my practice have treated even more. Working with people who have had severe panic attacks that have dramatically impacted their daily life has been some of the most rewarding counseling work I’ve done. Why? Because treatment works. And it’s amazing to watch how people are able to move forward with their lives and reach their goals once we get rid of the panic attacks.
We Can Help with Panic Attack Treatment
Panic attacks and panic disorder are both mental health conditions that can have significant effects on quality of life due to the severity of the symptoms. There are two main treatment options of prescription medication and psychotherapy that often work best when used in combination.
If you’re looking for panic attack psychotherapy options, you really want to work with a mental health professional who really specializes in treating anxiety in Columbia, MO. You’re looking for someone who uses an evidence-based treatment approach to treating panic attacks and will stay focused on your goals. The good news is that if you live in Missouri, we have several therapists who specialize in anxiety treatment and are here to help. Get in touch with us to talk through counseling options for you.
About the Author
Jessica Tappana is the founder & Owner of Aspire Counseling in Columbia, MO. Trauma therapy & PTSD treatment was her first passion in the field of mental health. As she learned more and more trauma therapy treatments, she realized that anxiety treatment required a very similar approach, because so much of what we’re treating when someone has PTSD is the anxiety that’s leading to many of the symptoms. Jessica believes in the power of therapy to help people find relief from both anxiety & trauma. She’s constantly reading about treatment options for these two issues and wishes she could convince everyone she meets to participate in counseling for anxiety when they feel really stressed. Jessica believes avoidance maintains anxiety & makes it worse, so she strongly encourages people to work with a therapist sooner rather than later.
