Personal Narrative: Panic Attacks

Living with anxiety is a battle everyday. I wake up and I’m not sure if today will be good or bad. It can start out good, but the next thing I know, I’m having a panic attack. The world around me starts to cave in, and the noise I hear becomes static; it’s as if I’m being swallowed whole. Suffering from a panic attack is incredibly embarrassing. Nobody understands what I’m going through, they all think it’s in my head or that I’m being dramatic. What they don’t understand is that, it’s a real problem. Just like any other illness, anxiety is paralyzing; so are panic attacks. There are days I don’t want to get out of bed because I’m afraid that today is the day everything will end, so it’s just safer to stay in bed. My anxiety is unpredictable,

To you, I am just another story to tell. My phone is on, but I haven’t received a text in weeks. You remind me of that every day. You laugh at me, call me a whore, tell me I am crazy. To you, I am just another girl for you to destroy. Depression, you make me physically ill. You make me thoughtless. I can’t concentrate on conversations or school anymore. I am just so exhausted. I look forward to the moment I can crawl into bed and sleep my life away. You made my life not worth living. Anxiety, you lowered my self-esteem. I can’t even wear my hair up in ponytails because you told me my forehead was too big. You told me that everyone was watching me walk down the hallway, judging my plain outfits. You pulled me into extreme isolation. When you

That was the phrase that had been assaulting my ears for the last half an hour. Although it wasn’t odd that someone was telling me that specific phrase, this time it was different. My grandmother, whom I thought had understood my problems, had just proven to me that she actually didn’t. At the age of 12, I was heartbroken.

On our way up the stairs to our unit, a girl named Jada came up behind me. “So why are you here?” I was thrown off by the personal question she asked so casually. Only an hour prior I had arrived at the facility and was introduced to the other eleven teenagers.

This feeling was unusual because as a youngster, I spent most of my childhood going on acting auditions and

When you get an anxiety or panic attack, life is not normal anymore. Finding the best cure for the anxiety or panic attacks is on top priority of all the patients suffering from anxiety or panic attacks. The first source of information for most patients is got from their family and friends. If the patients don't get any substantial information from their family and friends, then they turn toward doctors or other medical professionals. Many people don't like to go to the doctor for various reasons.

In my freshmen year, I got my first stage management job, as a production assistant on one of my school’s mainstage productions. The majority of those I was working with were graduate students and/or faculty. I was extremely intimidated and I struggled to do any task without apprehension, due to my generalized anxiety disorder. After noting this behavior, I began working on my confidence, in order to mitigate my trepidation, by way of reflection and therapy. When asked to tape out the prop table, rather than asking dozens of questions about which color of tape to use and the ideal position for the breakable wine glass, I just began the task, trusting my judgement. Sometimes I was corrected and had to redo my work, but most of the time, my work

After the incident, there were multiple Acute Critical Stress Symptoms that have occurred. Upon discovering the hole on the fuel truck, I froze and slowly climbed down the truck, myself and the driver of the truck assumed that the mortar round was inside the truck (it turned out, the mortar round hit the tank and ricochet and hit the ground, leaving an 8 inches hole). I have been thinking about the incident and the what if scenario kept playing on my head. There were a great deal of questions, such as, exposing my team to danger, to include the considerable amount of what could have gone wrong that could have loss many lives that night. I woke up several times with a cold sweat, nightmares, difficulty sleeping and fear of event repetition.

A supervisor or co-worker can be trained to recognize these symptoms and offer assistance to alleviate their attack. Moving an employee to a calm atmosphere, or increase their break times might be all it takes. A paper bag can help with breathing, and knowledge of emergency protocols is vital during an acute episode. Even assigning a shift that does not agitate the condition might be helpful. It can be managed if training is available. ("NIMH » Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms," 2013)

When the lungs seem to be collapsing and life seems to be steadily slipping away from an unfaithful, shaky grasp, most would dig a grave and call it dying; while some would call it a panic attack. Panic disorder, the unwelcome offspring of anxiety, is not a commonly acknowledged mental illness in today’s society. Panic disorder is a fatiguing, socially cataclysmic mental disease which results in panic attacks. While panic attacks may shower their victims with copious amounts of external, physical effects (pools of cold sweat, frantic movements, inability to breathe, etc.); the most detrimental effects are purely internal.

All my life, I have suffered from generalized anxiety disorder, which can make it difficult to do mundane tasks and educational requirements. For example, giving speeches, taking exams and quizzes, and having to communicate with other students that I do not know. I have been sheltered most of my life, which causes things that would be considered basic to other people to scare me. After analyzing my anxious tendencies, I came to the conclusion that the root of my anxiety comes from having seperation anxiety from my Mother after my Father passed away, which made me scared to talk to people, resulting in speech anxiety. My main fear with my speech anxiety is that I will receive a bad grade on my speech or not do well enough academically. I strive

When I was about twelve, I self diagnosed myself with anxiety. I was at a river in Austin with my mom and my two aunts. At that age, I was insecure about everything that had to do with my body. “Come on, get in!” I heard my over enthusiastic aunt yell from the dirty, brown water. I wanted to get in, but my mind was telling me, “Everyone is going to think your body is ugly”, and “Don’t get in, just sit and wait for them to come back”, so that’s what I did.

Of course I was the first to be called up to give my introduction speech! Perhaps because my professor knew me so well? Who knows… but I was actually glad that I was chosen first because I get to set the bar without having to worry about competing with the previous speeches. So with that positive mindset, my anxiety levels were really low. On a scale from one to ten I’d say I was a solid two! As soon as I was about to speak I observed my audience, their faces, movements, and eyes. All the attention was on me and I got right into my zone.

Situation Analysis is a process that can used with anxiety disorders to find a “pattern” for panic attacks that a client is experiencing. Dr. Sibcy refers to this pattern as the “Firing Order” in which the client experiences panic attacks. Once the Firing Order is found, the counselor can then develop the client’s treatment plan.

Annie states that the Agoraphobia is a result of her overthinking how people view her. Throughout the interview, Annie often demonstrates how she thinks others view her—“why did she just run out” or “she is crazy”. During the interview, it becomes clear that Annie is mainly afraid of judgment by other people.