Panic Attacks

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Panic Attacks





There are many opinions and theries concerning anxiety and panic

attacks. Some believe panic attacks are caused by a person's inability

to live the life they dream of, while others believe they are caused by

deep rooted fear based memories that we don't want to deal with. There

are as many opinions as there are "experts". I believe the true experts

are the people who experience this dread called panic attacks.


Everyone experiences some form of anxiety in their life, however, not

everyone experiences this intense feeling of a life threating anxiety

called panic attacks. In the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, panic

attacks are described as a period during which there is a sudden onset

of intense terror, fear, or apprehension, accompanied by signs and

symptoms such as a feeling of impending doom, a fear of going insane,

shortness of breath, a choking sensation, increased heart rate and

palpitations, chest pain or discomfort, dizziness, trembling, sweating,

and nauseas. This description is right on target because it includes most

if not all the symptoms that people have described to their doctors over

the years. I chose this topic because I have first hand experience of

panic attacks which are for the most part under control. I have also had

family and friends that have suffered with them for years, so I can

vouch for the Oxford definition.


Robert Gerzon, author of " Finding Serenity in the age of anxiety".

claims that we all should be anxious because it is a good thing. Gerzon

feels that the problem is not anxiety, but that we're just not anxious

about the right things. For example, we are anxious about finding a

parking space but not that anxious about finding solutions for

social injustice. This is among the more radical viewpoints. A more

mainstream viewpoint is that of Joseph LeDoux. In hi...