What is Panic Attack? What is the Panic Attack Symptoms?
Panic attack can affect our lives negatively. So what is a panic attack, what is the symptoms, how does it feel?
What is Panic Attack?
Its main feature is abrupt and recurrent episodes of intense anxiety or fear, which leave one terrified. We call these seizures, which our patients often call “crises”, PANIC ATTACKS.
Panic Attack begins suddenly, gradually becomes more severe, and its severity reaches its highest level within 10 minutes; It usually goes away on its own after 10-30 minutes (rarely up to 1 hour).
What is the Panic Attack Symptoms?
A Panic Attack has at least 4 or more of these symptoms. Attacks with fewer than four symptoms are called Limited Panic Attacks.
- Chest pain or tightness in the chest
- Fluttering, hard or fast heartbeat
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath or suffocating
- Being out of breath
- Dizziness, lightheadedness, falling or fainting
- Numbness or tingling
- Chills or hot flashes
- Nausea or abdominal pain
- Shaking or shaking
- Feeling yourself or others changed, strange and different
- Fear of losing control or going crazy
- Fear of death
What do panic attacks feel like?
Panic attacks are very similar to fear. Symptoms such as adrenaline, nausea, sweating, rapid breathing are similar. However, in fear, which is different, there is a stimulus that appears at that moment. In a panic attack, there is no fear object. It works through dangerous situations that may arise in the future. There is no situation that can be functional, on the contrary, it can disrupt the function in daily life.
It develops unexpectedly. It occurs at home, watching TV, eating, anywhere. The first panic attack comes unexpectedly, its cause cannot be known, its meaning cannot be understood and it evokes danger. Therefore, it creates a situation that will create fear. However, this is a false alarm situation. In the first panic attack, the person thinks “I am dying, I am having a heart attack, I cannot breathe”.
Therefore, he calls the ambulance, his wife, friend or taxi, and goes to the hospital. Let’s think about it now. In the case of a panic attack, how many minutes passed when the person arrived at the hospital? I think he’ll be at the hospital in an hour or so at the most. This indicates that the effect of adrenaline has begun to decrease. But one cannot know this. I went to the hospital, he thinks that there is a relief. He sees the doctor and has nothing left! Adrenaline is now at a normal level.
In this case, the hospital has become a negative reinforcer for that person. In other words, the behavior of going to the hospital will be reinforced for the person. The person will then go to the hospital for each attack. If he is going to go somewhere, he will go through the hospital routes. What if he didn’t go to the hospital in this panic attack situation, would the symptoms continue? If there was no other reason, if it was just a panic attack situation, no, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t have learned if he didn’t see negative reinforcement.
