3 Things Someone With Panic Disorder Wants You To Understand

“A Trigger Is The Connection Between The Conscious Mind And A Buried Emotional Memory.”

I recently ran into some interested data by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, nearly 2.7 percent of the population, or about six million Americans, experience panic attacks. And women are twice as prone to developing panic disorder as opposed to men.

Most of us who have never had panic attacks usually misinterpret and misunderstand the strife that the people are going through. Below are 3 things that someone with panic disorder wants you to understand:

1. It can occur for no reason, without warning, at any place

Panic attacks occur suddenly without any warning signs. You may just be fine and dandy one minute, and the next minute you may find yourself in the middle of an internal battle without having any clue as to how you got there. The palms begin sweating, the heart beats become more rapid, breathing becomes uneven and fast, the entire body feels tired and weak, and the environment starts to spin.

When a panic attack occurs the sufferer will seek to escape to their comfort zone, into another place with fresh air to avoid the stressful event. In this video I’ll outline what not to do during a panic attack.

Panic attacks are typically caused due to increased anxiety and stress and are often a part of the natural flight or fight response of the body. However, in the advanced society of today, we can sometimes perceive a simple situation to be a stress inducing one, thereby triggering a similar flight-fight response and subsequently a panic attack if the person has very high anxiety levels.

“It is not necessary for panic attacks to occur in bustling, crowded places. It can also occur when sitting at your home, sleeping, etc., and may not have any specific precursor.”

Panic attacks may be more common in those with a family history, but not every time. Thus it has no specific cause and can occur anywhere without any known underlying reason. This is one of the reasons why sufferers avoid situations or places, where they have suffered a panic attack before (Pairings/Associations), or which they feel might trigger a panic attack.

2. Panic attacks feel as if the body is fighting you

A panic attack can be a terrifying feeling, almost similar to a stroke, a heart attack, or dying, etc. The attack feels as if you have lost control over the body and it does anything and everything that it wants to do with you having no say over it! The reason for this is because the emotional mind has run the outside information through a number of filters, and has drawn a conclusion.

These filters are:

• Your overall self image
• Your beliefs
• Your past experiences in that environment
• Your outlook
• Your initial response to the stimuli

Panic attacks are not fatal but sufferers along with myself during my 6 year struggle with panic disorder, consider each event a life threatening experience. So be gentle on these people, understand where there coming from and the best way to do that is become educated around what panic disorder is, and help them through a CBT based program that will alter their mental and emotional states.

3. It’s very difficult to control panic attacks and they can trigger other problems

Different healing techniques invoke different responses in different people. Some methods may work wonders in easing panic attacks in some suffers, while they may be useless for others. It is thus not very easy to control panic attacks.

Panic attacks can be so overwhelming that sufferers may opt for alcohol or drugs to help cope with the experience and calm their nerves. Prolonged stress can also adversely affect mental, spiritual and physical health. Fear of suffering another attack may also cause people to completely avoid certain social situations.

Conclusion

If you know someone suffering from panic disorder, stay clear of the words ‘learn to calm down,’ and ‘pull yourself together.’ These types of comments only aggravate the problem and keep a sufferer in a deeper hole. Instead, help them recognize the patterns that may be bringing up the panic, and work on ways to begin breaking the pattern and adding other helpful daily rituals that send calming signals to the entire nervous system. Therefore limiting the fight or flight response throughout the day.

How Do You Help Someone With Panic Disorder? Comment Below And Share Your Best Pieces Of Advice!