Help For Panic Attacks
Symptoms of Panic Attacks
Symptoms of anxiety attacks can be any or all of the following:
• Dizzy spells
• Tightness in throat and chest accompanied by shortness of breath
• Racing heart
• Tingling sensations in the feet and hands and
• Negative thoughts.
Although these don’t sound too dramatic they can be quite worrying for the person with the symptoms if they are undiagnosed. This fear can actually exacerbate the problem.
Symptoms of panic or anxiety attacks that are considered to be major can include those above plus:
• Obsessive worrying and unwanted thoughts and
• Overwhelming fear that something awful is about to occur.
These last two symptoms can be almost unbearable and in some cases can lead to catastrophic results such as suicide in the most extreme cases unless treated.
Sometimes the symptoms of panic attacks are mistaken for heart attack symptoms but generally the dizziness, racing heart and negative thoughts differentiate a panic or anxiety attack from a heart attack. However, if you are uncertain, it is always best to seek advice from your health care professional.
What Causes Panic Attacks
I guess before we go too far in to what causes panic attacks it would be useful to know how to stop a them. If you are experiencing a panic attack, the most important thing is to relax and try to get your mind off what is causing the attack. I know this sounds simplistic but in mild cases it can be all that is needed. To prevent a panic or anxiety attack is not quite so simple but one way is to train your mind not think of the problem ie not to think of what caused attack. This can take time and in the cases of severe panic attacks may require professional help.
There are many other ways and I will shortly add articles with tips to prevent panic attacks but the aim of this article is primarily to give you some more general introductory information.
There are many causes of panic attacks and, again, I will go into more depth in other articles shortly, but for this article I will outline some briefly.
• The continual worrying about something (e.g. money, safety etc) can, over a period of time, be the root cause of panic attacks. It’s a bit like a cancer that is continually eating away at the mind.
• Adults are not alone in suffering from anxiety attacks, children can too and the problem can very often stem from childhood issues. For example growing up in a violent household or not being loved as a child can lead to perceptions of these being terrible experiences. This can play on the mind for years with the result culminating in panic attacks in certain situations.
• Once you experience a panic or anxiety attack, the fear of it reoccurring and of its symptoms can in itself be enough to trigger the mental processes to cause further attacks. In essence you start to fear, fear itself.
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