Panic Attack Definition

To understand the notion of panic attack , it is necessary to first define the terms that compose it.It is called attack to the act and result of attacking: attacking, lashing out, Offense. Panic , meanwhile, is an intense sensation of fear.

It can be said that a panic attack is a phenomenon that occurs when a person suddenly experiences a fear of great intensity .The attack can last a few minutes or even hours.

Considered as crisis of anguish , panic attacks appear without an apparent cause.The individual, without knowing why, begins to feel terrified and his organism reacts as if it were faced with a specific threat.The subject, in this way, begins to have trouble breathing, tremor, tachycardia, excessive sweating and dizziness, among other symptoms.

The attack of panic is associated with a increased increase of the anxiety .The person is not aware of the specific reason that triggers the situation: it is something that causes a lot of anguish and that fails to process to assimilate it in its psychic structure.

In addition to the sensation of terror and the physical effects, it is common that the person cannot correctly relate their environment to reality and experience a strangeness about themselves.feeling of loss of control over your body and your life in general.

When panic attacks are recurrent, the individual suffers from what is known as a panic disorder .This condition is usually treated with psychological therapy (to detect the real reason for the distress ) and with drugs prescribed by a doctor to alleviate the physiological effects (antidepressants, anxiolytics).

Four steps to overcome a panic attack

Despite the severity of the symptoms , stopping a panic attack is not difficult.In technical terms, it is simply to cancel the emergency message received by the adrenal glands.Following a series of Four steps defined by the specialists It is possible that the attacks will not last more than three minutes , and the statistics show that once learned their effectiveness increases with practice.

Before proceeding to detail the four steps, it is necessary to clarify that the definitive solution requires finding the cause of anxiety and working to stop affecting us negatively, a job that can take a lot of time and determination .

The first step is relaxation .We need to be aware that we are suffering from a panic attack and that we can overcome it.Controlling breathing is key, and for this we must inspire slowly and deeply, trying to fill the lower part of the lungs and then exhale until all the air is expelled, to decrease the level adrenaline .

Once we have regained breath control, we must stop the flow of negative thoughts .To do this it is often useful to say out loud any phrase that will help us chase them away, like being «¡ Enough! ”or“ Get out! ”This step opposes the more common tendency, which consists in repeating destructive phrases until entering a circle vicious.

Similar to the previous step, we must say phrases that reassure us opposite to the catastrophic ideas that usually arise during attacks.For example, if we fear we are suffering from heart attack we can choose to repeat "it is simply a panic attack and the heart is beating harder than normal, nothing more."

Finally, although we should not necessarily do it in fourth place, it is important to accept one's emotions .It is no use denying or minimizing the fear we feel during an episode, but we must reach the root of the problem and try to understand the reasons that arouse it.