Panic disorder is a type of extreme anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and the persistent fear of future attacks. Panic disorder is often accompanied by agoraphobia, which is defined as “extreme fear of situations involving public transportation, open spaces, or other public settings” (Licht, Hull, & Ballantyne, 2014, p. 556). According to the American Psychology Association (2015), approximately one out of every 75 people suffer from panic disorder, with onset usually occurring during the teen years to early adulthood. Rarely, onset may occur over the age of 40. Panic disorder is also more common in women than men.
Causes of Panic Disorder
There is no definitive reason why some people suffer from panic disorder
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A panic attack is an episode of extreme and unreasonable fear accompanied by a wide variety of physical symptoms. These attacks can occur anytime, even while asleep, with or without stimuli. They usually occur without warning. R. Reid Wilson, Ph.D. (1996) states that “a panic attack causes the fastest and most complex reaction known within the human body” (p. 5). He goes on to say that a panic attack “immediately alters the functioning of the eyes, several major glands, the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, pancreas, kidneys and bladder, and the major muscle groups” (p. 5). Some of the most common physical symptoms include increased heart rate, chest pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness, nausea, hot flashes or chills, trembling, and tingling in the extremities. These symptoms resemble the body’s natural “fight or flight” response experienced in dangerous situations (“Answers,” 2015). Additional symptoms may include tightness in the throat, hyperventilation, stomach butterflies, tension in the muscles of the shoulders and neck, and weakness in the muscles of the arms and legs. A panic attack usually lasts only a few minutes, however repeated attacks can continue for a period of hours (“Answers,” 2015). Sufferers are often physically exhausted after an …show more content…
Therefore, treatments differ from person to person. According to Psychology Today, “appropriate treatment by an experienced professional can reduce or prevent panic attacks in 70 to 90 percent of people with the disorder” (“Panic Disorder,” 2014). Most often, panic disorder is treated with medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy. There are many types of medications used to treat panic disorder, including benzodiazepines, an anti-anxiety medication, and antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclics, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Cognitive-behavioral therapy seeks to discern the cause of panic, help panic sufferers overcome their fears, and change their reactions to anxious situations. Other treatments such as relaxation techniques, breathing exercises, positive visualization, and meditation are often
Panic disorder is dissimilar from the normal fear and anxiety reactions to stressful activities that is a serious illness that strikes without any warning. Panic attacks involve a feeling of extreme anxiety or fear that may last for anyplace among for a few minutes possibly to various hours. Symptoms of panic disorder happens with sudden attacks of fear and nervousness. Also, it causes such as sweating and a racing heart. During a panic attack, the fear response for the situation often is not threatening. Over time, a person with panic disorder develops a constant fear of having another panic attack, which can affect daily functioning and in general in their life. Panic attack is a reaction of the sympathetic nervous system. Panic attacks are not permanently threatening. People can or possibly won’t develop a panic attack at any time in their life. Everyone go through panic in a different way.
The cognitive behavioral therapy helps them to rationally think about situations when in panic mode and to effectively remain calm through their panic. In exposure therapy they are exposed to panic in a controlled environment where the patients can learn safe and healthy ways of coping. Medication therapy is important. Antidepressants are giving for long-term therapy and take a few weeks to start working, so that is when the benzodiazepines come in. They act quickly and are given to give rapid relief to symptoms during a panic
Sensory input rushing throughout the nervous system can overwhelm feelings causing them to develop into a panic attack. Panic attack symptoms can make one feel short of breath, dizzy, flushed, nauseated, and cause the heart to pound. Attacks can include many of these symptoms: rapid heart rate, sweating, chest pain, trembling, tightness in the throat, chills, hot flashes, and a sense of impending doom.
Panic disorder is defined as, “recurrent unexpected panic attacks” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 208). A panic attack is a heightened sense of fear or discomfort that swells and reaches a climax; the entire event last around 10 minutes (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). An unexpected panic attack means that there is no trigger that sets off the attack, they occurs seemingly random (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). During these attacks, in order for it to be considered panic disorder, at
Anxiety attack symptoms can be deceiving in that they often mimic other health issues, like heart disease or even menopause. If you’re trying to determine if you have a panic disorder, it’s best to take all the symptoms together.
Many of them are physical. Someone experiencing a panic attack will have an increased heart rate, and fast breathing (“Panic Disorder World”). A feeling of nausea and being dizzy are also common (“Panic Disorder Sick”). People with panic disorder may also sweat a considerable amount more than normal, along with chills, chest pains, and even choking sensations (“Panic Disorder Sick”). People who have experienced a panic attack sometimes report that they were convinced they were having a heart attack, dying or choking, and they could not escape (“Panic Disorder
This is so other medical conditions or disorders can be ruled out like substance abuse as it can mimic panic attacks. Once a person is diagnosed the doctor will probably order an anti-depressant medication and or sedative. The doctor will most likely recommend that you eat healthier and at the same time every day along with getting plenty of exercise. He will also recommend that one stays away from street drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and get a fair amount of sleep. Along with this advice, the doctor will also recommend that you seek professional help like a psychiatrist. As mentioned before Aaron Beck is the founder of CBT and this practice is still used today but is known as talk therapy. Even though there are many types of talk therapy, cognitive behavior therapy and interpersonal therapy are the ones that work the best for treating depression and anxiety disorders as the two therapies work hand in hand. The cognitive behavior therapy focuses on changing one’s negative thought patterns into positive thought patterns, interpersonal therapy focuses on how you relate to other people, it will assist one in making personal relationships positive. A self-support group can also be effective for one that suffers from anxiety disorders. Family can also be of help as the person who suffers from anxiety disorders need all the support they can get. Keeping one’s self in a positive and low stress environment can
There is a plethora of psychological dysfunctions and each have their own forms of treatment, including psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy and assertive community treatment. Anxiety disorders are a collection of mental disorders that include symptoms of fear, anxiety and panic. One type of anxiety disorder is panic disorder. Panic disorder is surprisingly extremely prominent throughout the United States of America. Panic disorder was once mistaken as just nerves but it is now considered to be an actual psychological disorder. Due to this change, it is seen that panic disorder is more serious and severe than many people believed. Therefore, it is important to know of the treatments for panic disorder, which are cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT, exposure therapy, and antidepressant medication. It is interesting to study panic disorder since it is so prominent throughout the US. This essay will examine panic disorder, characteristics of panic disorder, the side effects of panic disorder, and the pros and cons of treatments of panic disorder. Therefore this essay intends to deal with the following research question: To what extent is cognitive behavioral treatment, exposure therapy and antidepressant medication effective in the treatment of panic disorder? Out of the three treatments, CBT is seen to be the most effective. Although both exposure therapy and antidepressant medication can be effective in the treatment of panic disorder, there is a multitude of side
Psychotherapy is a type of counseling that addresses the emotional response to mental illness. It is a process in which trained mental professionals help people by talking to them and finding the cause of their mental health. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps people to learn and recognize and change thought patterns and behaviors that lead to troublesome feelings. Medication, there are several antidepressant medications used to treat panic disorder. These are generally selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) such as Paxil and Zoloft. Anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax, Ativan, or Klonopin are also used to treat panic
Panic disorder according to the book is an abrupt attack of acute anxiety that is not necessarily triggered by a specific object or situation. The symptoms of panic disorder include sudden attacks of extreme anxiety and fear, chills, weakness, chest pain, sweating, and nausea. There are a few causes of panic disorder one is past family history, another is abnormalities in the brain, substance abuse, and even major life stress. People diagnosed with panic disorder are often referred to a psychologist or psychiatrist for treatment there is also medication available if it is deemed
To be diagnosed with a panic disorder there are criterion that must be met; recurrent panic attacks, consistent worry about having another attack, the presence of agoraphobia (the fear of public spaces), and the attacks are not a result of any type of substance or medicine. In order to be considered an agoraphobic, there must be anxiety about being unable to escape in the event of a panic attack, traveling alone is very stressful, and the anxiety is not caused by other disorder such as obsessive compulsive disorder or a specific phobia such as public restrooms. Agoraphobia arises because of the fear of being unable to find help in the event of a panic attack and the embarrassment of having an attack in a public space. (Torterolo & Levin, 2012). The main symptom of panic disorders are the panic attacks that seemingly occur out of nowhere and often resemble a heart attack. Panic attacks can last from an upwards of 30 minutes and often are accompanied by; hyperventilation, tremors, choking, discomfort of the chest, irrational fear of death, tingling in the extremities, and a high pulse. (“Mood Disorders”,
Numerous stresses in everyday life lead people to panic and have panic disorders, which absolutely need treatment. This disorder brings seriousness if left without any treatments. It may worsen to the time when the person might have to step into the attempts to try to avoid that. This attacks anytime with no reason, which means it begins suddenly. Panic disorder was newly founded as psychiatric condition that followed after anxiety disorders. 6 million adults in U.S.A suffers with panic disorder and all countries have at least 2 people out of 10 with panic disorders. Symptoms of panic disorder include difficulty breathing, chest pain, intense feeling of terror and dread, shortness of breath,feeling the sense of choking or smothering, dizziness, headache or feeling faint, trembling and shaking, sweating, nausea or stomachache, tingling or numbness in the fingers and toes, chills or hot flashes, and a fear of losing control. Most important key symptom of the panic disorder is the constant fright of having future panic attacks. The fearness comes from the disorder cause the patients to avoid places and situations where an attack has been happened or they think it may occur. The problem with this enormous amount of people with this disorder is that they do not know if their symptoms are real and not very highly responsive about treatment for themselves. This disorder often show the occurrences of other disorders.
Before you try to tackle your anxiety or help someone with anxiety, you must first understand it. A panic attack is defined as a sudden episode of disabling anxiety. Anyone can experience an anxiety attack, but not everyone will. If someone has these attacks regularly, they may be experiencing a panic disorder. There different types of panic disorders that are defined by their causes, and are far more common than one would expect. According to webmd.com “Panic disorder affects about 2.4 million adult
This client currently exhibits / experiences four of the thirteen symptoms of a panic attack as defined by the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The brief case study did not address how long or how often the client had been experiencing the symptoms. To accurately diagnosis a person with Panic Attack Disorder it is necessary for the individual to have experienced physical symptoms along with the one of four concurring behavioral symptoms. Behavioral symptoms examples: individual has a persistent worry of the attack happening again or exhibits a significant change in behavior related to the attacks. The individual also has no known substance abuse or medical condition and the panic disorder is not explained by another mental disorder. The symptoms must be ongoing for at least a month.
This paper reviews the major characteristics of panic disorders and the actual causes of the attacks. It also examines the diagnoses that require the criteria, culture-related and gender-related issues, development of panic disorders, differential diagnosis, comorbidity, and treatment. Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks along with persistent fears of experiencing further attacks, concern about the implications of attacks and the changes in behaviors. Panic disorders (PD) are considered to be chronic condition due to non-treatment. There is further research on psychological treatments being the recommend treatment and how the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is empirically supported to