Panic attacks

Main article: Mental disorders

Panic attack - an attack of sudden fear, not always associated with some external causes, can occur absolutely spontaneously and its onset cannot be controlled. A panic attack is characterized by a very intense anxiety, bordering on some such vital horror, some feeling of an impending catastrophe, that is, this is a very intense anxiety, in fact, this is anxiety, it is just very intense and it arises in an attack-like manner, suddenly and not always under any specific external provocations. That is, sometimes it occurs in specific situations. For example, some people in the subway, in the squares, in the crowd, in the elevator, in the MRI machine, on the plane, and sometimes they arise absolutely somehow unreasonably, suddenly. That is, in a dream there are, at night, night awakenings, association with panic attacks. In someone, they can occur on changes in general physical well-being. For example, in people sensitive to bodily changes, some kind of mild dizziness, palpitations, malaise, weakness - they can be a provocateur who then pushes the unwinding of anxiety, and this anxiety can end in a panic attack, said in November 2022 Ruslan Vorobyov, a psychotherapist at the European Medical Center, candidate of medical sciences.

Panic attack is characterized by intense anxiety, accompanied by vegetative components of anxiety. These are:

• heartbeat,
• shortness of breath,
• lack of air,
• sweating,
• a rush of heat and cold in the body,
• dizziness,
• tremor,
• change in the gastrointestinal tract, call to the toilet, for example,
• pressure rise and
• various bodily sensations, not specific, which are very individual, but a complex reaction occurs - vegetative, essentially manifested, which is a reflection of the fact that the body is in a special mode.

In fact, anxiety is an evolved protective response that allows you to escape the threat and, in fact, the vegetative manifestation of anxiety is the mobilization of the body so that it can sharply respond to a sudden danger. It's just that with severe panic, this reaction occurs without a real reason and without a real threat and therefore it is very incomprehensible, unusual, unpleasant, frightening for a person. That is, suddenly the body mobilized, tachycardia began, heartbeat, lack of air, head swirls, cotton legs become, a person does not understand what is happening - and therefore these sensations begin to be automatically immediately mistakenly interpreted as some kind of threat to life, to health. That is, panic is characterized by fear of death, fear of losing control over oneself. That is, someone fixes it more on the sensation in the head and it may seem to him that there will be a stroke, someone at the heartbeat and can say that now there will be a heart attack, someone's visual perception of reality changes and then there is fear of losing control over themselves.

Duration of panic attacks

A panic attack usually does not last long, from five minutes to half an hour. Sometimes there are such repeated panic attacks - then the patient complains that the panic attack lasts a long time for many hours, but, in fact, an isolated panic attack is a fairly quick reaction, because in the body a inhibition reaction will occur, that is, if there is a surge in adrenaline discharge. For some time, the harmonies will work, the receptors will be stabilized after some time. The parasympathetic system will begin to dominate the sympathetic one and calm down. In principle, from five minutes to half an hour, a person begins to gradually calm down, usually this is the situation and attempts to save yourself from some situation, they do not occur at the peak of anxiety, that is, a person can be afraid, that he will have a stroke or heart attack, call an ambulance urgently, and then while the ambulance reaches him, he already says that he is easier, calmer and immediately calms down. Therefore, this is different from some fear associated with a specific frightening situation, some circumstances that are subjective to a person with some risk of danger to come, because we are worried when we think forward that something will go wrong: the exam will not pass, will be fired. That is, when we think something will happen, we feel anxious. From ordinary anxiety, when we understand that there is a specific circumstance, there are specific reasons, there is a specific content of anxiety. That is, it is uncontrollable, fast, suddenly, such an explosion of anxiety and it is difficult for a person to cope with it.

How to deal with a panic attack

In fact, it is possible to cope with a panic attack without drugs, but this requires an already sufficient level of awareness, an understanding of what a panic attack is, what sensations can occur within the framework of anxiety, how to interpret. It is easier for a person to cope with a panic attack when he has developed self-help skills, he knows how to relax, calm down using different breathing practices, breathing management practices, plus confidence in the face of panic attacks, doctors strive to develop it by doing psychotherapy with the patient. The fact is that you can rationally think that a panic attack is not dangerous, you can begin to understand that it is not so threatening, either from the explanations of specialists, or from the information that was read, or after a course of examinations, which usually patients with panic attacks begin to pass. When a person has passed a certain circle, he already understands that panic is not dangerous, he can rationally already think that it is not dangerous, but when it happens in the moment, it is difficult to catch it, because because of anxiety, thinking becomes irrational and all fears about stroke, heart attack, or loss of control over yourself and fear of death - return again. Then the panic passes and the person again returns to a more rational perception. It is not always possible to cope with such a rational view of the situation, this is normal, but this is where you need to start.

First you need to understand what panic is, how it works, this is the first step. The second step is when the doctor begins to monitor the behavior of a person and reveals whether there is fear of fear itself, anxiety before anxiety, works with it. Then a person is carefully led to go through a cycle of exposures, that is, such types of activities that teach him to be less afraid of anxiety, form confidence in him that he can survive it, can pass it. Globally, the philosophy of getting rid of panic is to learn nothing about panic. The more a person wants to learn to control it, the greater the level of anxiety. The methods for 2022 are already very advanced, worked out on many millions of patients.

It is imperative to consult a doctor, at least a clinical psychologist who works with disorders, not just a psychologist, a coach. A clinical psychologist cannot prescribe medication, but he can assess the severity of the situation and advise whether to see a psychiatrist. If there is an opportunity, then it is better for a psychiatrist, he will assess the situation, he understands the methods of drug therapy and psychotherapy and has an idea of ​ ​ this, and then direct him to cognitive behavioral therapy. There is a chance to get rid of once and for all, you can achieve sustainable remission, learn how to cope with panic. That is, a person suffers not from panic, but from those behavioral stereotypes that are formed under the influence of these panics. Therefore, if a person has the skills to cope with this, he understands the logic, understands the harmfulness, then there is less chance that he will succumb to them. Therefore, this issue is definitely one that must be dealt with in private - now there are many books, self-teachers, literature. Or you can work with cognitive behavioral therapists who explain all this, advise you to start with such literature. Panic attacks can go away forever. It happens that a person as a whole has an alarming state: as an infectious disease - coronavirus suffered, intoxication, illness, weakened body, a series of stresses, a bad period - but then the general state stabilizes and panic goes away. Adequate care is important to prevent the development of neurosis. Therefore, we must always hope that they will pass, but concentrate on how to learn how to cope with anxiety - what I can do if I am anxious.