Panic attacks do not come from nowhere, though the possibility of them coming out of the blue cannot be discounted. Nonetheless, there is always that something that triggers the occurrence of such attacks.

Experts believe that the causes are multi-factorial and pre-disposing factors are many. Included are the following:

Genetics. Panic attacks run in the family. If you great grandfather had it, there is a relative possibility that you might develop the disorder as well.

In typical cases, those people who have relatives with panic attacks are twice more likely to experience either acute or chronic but intermittent episodes of panic disorder than normal people.

Nonetheless, there are people who have family history of panic attacks that do not develop the disorder.

Medical Causes. There are several medical conditions that could allow for the development of panic disorder and panic attacks.

Among them are mitral valve prolapse, hypoglycemia, hyperthyroidism, abrupt withdrawal from medication usage, and use of stimulants. Mitral valve prolapse, otherwise known as MVP, is a heart disease that affects the mitral valves, the part of the heart that prevents the backflow of blood.

The symptoms of this disease are shortness of breath and chest pain along with others.

Not only do these symptoms resemble those of panic attacks but research by the American Heart Association confirmed that there is a direct link between MVP And Panic Attacks.

Hypoglycemia, on the other hand, is a condition characterized by a lower level of blood glucose. Meanwhile, hyperthyroidism is also a condition that is somehow linked with panic attacks. This condition is marked by the overproduction of thyroid hormones namely T3 and T4 hormones.

Abrupt withdrawal from certain medications is also believed to be a cause of panic attacks since this triggers sudden changes in the body.  Another factor that may lead to the development of panic attacks is the use of stimulant substances such as beverages with high caffeine content and marijuana.

Medications. The body’s reaction to foreign materials with medical properties is not always necessarily positive. There are cases when the substances found in the drugs produce the right conditions in the body conducive to the arousal of panic attacks.

For example, methylphenidate which is more commonly known as Ritalin is used for patients of ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as well as Narcolepsy could cause panic attacks for some people.

Gender. This seems to be a predisposing factor towards the development of panic disorder.

According to studies females are 50% more likely than their counterparts to develop the disorder.

Major Life Events. Substantial events in life thatlead to extreme changes can create the right environments for the occurrence of panic attacks. This may be because such drastic changes create tensions in the homeostasis of a person’s life, thus upsetting the previous order of things and forcing the person to confront the changes.

If the person fails to respond accordingly, the tension may persist and he might be overcome by it. Thus, producing anumber of symptoms that could be characterized under psychological disorders, panic attacks included.

Phobias. Although the statistics are not established yet, it seems clear that people who have severe cases of phobias are more susceptible to developing panic disorders. This could be due to the fact that phobias cause elevated levels of fear to start with.

Find out more here.

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Panic Attacks (The Worried Well Anxiety-Related Disorders FFH 6788) This program shows panic attacks as a symptom of other stress-related conditions-specific phobias, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorders-and also as a separate condition. A housewife and businessman tell how panic attacks placed limitations on their daily lives and how they finally sought help and relief. A specialist in behavioral psychotherapy provides professional advice on how to identify...

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Consulting a psychologist, or a behavioral therapist for that matter, regarding panic attacks may be the best course of action you could do for yourself.

That is, if you are not convinced that you can actually help your self out of your condition. But you cannot forever rely on drugs and medical practitioners to give you help. Somehow you have to take action; you have to learn to cope. Here are some ideas that could help you psyche yourself into coping with panic attacks.

You are what you think. If you think that you are fearful of something, you would actually become fearful of that thing, regardless of how irrational that fear could be.

If you expect that you would have panic attacks any time soon, you might actually enter into one. The mind is so powerful that it could trigger experiences that are frightening enough to cause you extreme levels of panic sensations. With this similar capacity at your disposal, you could reverse the power of your mind and use it to your advantage.

Based on the principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a psychotherapeutic approach, a person has the capacity to manipulate dysfunctional reactions, emotions, cognitions and behaviors in order to arrive at a more cohesive and healthier well-being.

Given that your panic attacks are triggered by your brain, you could help your brain tone down certain symptoms by just trying to fix its dysfunctions. While simple positive thoughts can help you direct your experience of panic attacks, more intensive and systematic Cognitive Behavioral Therapies can provide you an atmosphere of peace that is free from panic attacks.

Run towards the object of your fear. People have the natural tendency to get away from things, places and events that caused them bad experiences. But the thing is, running away from something would not help release you from your fear, it may actually aggravate your condition.

This is because you are somehow reinforcing your fear by feeding in more dosages of fear to your current condition which is the last thing you should really want to do.

No matter how difficult the idea of facing your fear may seem, it is actually among the most effective ways to help you cope and overcome panic attacks. Once you confront the object of your fear or the cause of your panic attacks, you can gain more courage to subdue the symptoms without having to resort to pills and medications.

Win over yourself. Sometimes, it is much easier to accept your lack of sense of control after undergoing panic attack symptoms. One thing will lead to another until you find yourself completely powerless against your condition.

Unfortunately, many people have become victimized of their own disorders only because they did not try anything to save themselves from panic-triggering episodes.

If you could try to gain power over yourself and over your symptoms little by little, you can possibly cope well with the disorder until you either have learned to effectively live with it or entirely remove it from your system.

It sometimes the self that causes people with panic attacks the most serious problems. It is also sometimes the mitigating factor to the progression of the condition and its symptoms. If you can gain some control over your own predicaments, half of the trouble is already resolved.

Find out more here.

End Anxiety Attacks Self Hypnosis, Overcome Panic & Fear Guided Meditation $8.99 ...

End Anxiety Attacks Self Hypnosis CD, Overcome Panic & Fear Guided Meditation CD $14.95 This Self Hypnosis/Guided Meditation CD is designed to give you new stress management coping skills at the conscious and subconscious levels. The old patterns of fear and panic turn into breathing easy, transcending anxious thoughts, relaxation and more. IT REALLY WORKS! Our Best Selling CD! Thousands have sold around the world! Christopher Love CDs are very Powerful Transformational tools for you...

Six Steps Designed to Put an End to Panic Attacks, Session 2 of the Attacking Anxiety and Depression Program - Single $8.99 ...

Mastery of Your Anxiety and Panic (MAP-3) Training Video: Session 1: Panic Attacks [VHS] $495.00 This is one of a set of 6 professionally edited video tapes that depict in detail the thrusts and parries of cognitive therapy, interoceptive exposure, and other treatment components of the best-selling MAP program. Typical problems that arise and methods of dealing with these problems during the course of therapy are also illustrated. The tapes are very useful for clinical training purposes as we...

Panic Attacks (The Worried Well Anxiety-Related Disorders FFH 6788) This program shows panic attacks as a symptom of other stress-related conditions-specific phobias, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorders-and also as a separate condition. A housewife and businessman tell how panic attacks placed limitations on their daily lives and how they finally sought help and relief. A specialist in behavioral psychotherapy provides professional advice on how to identify...

I.F.T. $1.99 ...

I.F.T. [HD] $2.99 ...

High Fashion Anxiety $1.99 ...

Now Foods True Calm Amino Relaxer ...

Rescue Remedy (20ml vial) $11.97 Whatever the situation - immediate or ongoing - Rescue® Remedy can help. Taken anytime, anywhere Rescue Remedy is totally natural and contains five of the 38 Bach ® Flower Essences: Rock Rose for terror and panic, Impatiens for irritation and impatience, Clematis for inattentiveness, Star of Bethlehem for shock and Cherry Plum for irrational thoughts....

Misinformation not only creates vague pictures of a condition but will also likely cause people to believe things that do not actually exist. Among those conditions that typically receive serious amounts of myths are psychological and behavioral disorders, partly because psychological conditions are often hard to understand and seem mysterious. In this article, we would try to debug the myths of one of the more common behavioral conditions—panic attacks.

People with panic attacks are crazy. Crazy is never a good term for people with psychological conditions and people with panic attacks are hardly crazy. They may seem deranged and a bit psychotic for some people when they experience attacks of panic and terror but this does not suggest that they are.

As if to add to the insult, people with panic attacks are sometimes perceived to have schizophrenia, the most advanced form of psychosis which is marked by severe auditory and visual hallucination as well as aggravated delusions and dysfunctional thoughts. Clearly, there is no relationship between people who feel like they are “going crazy” when undergoing attacks and people who have advanced (and even minor) psychological conditions.

People with panic attacks lose control. Wrong. Panic attacks do not rob a person his sense of control. While a person’s thoughts may seem distorted for a while during attacks due to physical symptoms that lend themselves towards this possibility such as shortness of breath and heart attack-like symptoms, this does not mean that the person is losing grip of the reality. Anxiety which normally accompanies panic attacks is a body’s way to tell you that something is going wrong. Since this is a defense mechanism, it is not dangerous to anyone, not even the person undergoing the panic attack.

It is good to remember that panic attack happens only in the mind, it may, in fact, be unnoticeable for people surrounding the person during the attack. What exacerbates the attack is the person’s conscious thought that it could cause embarrassment or harm to other people. It is the sense of losing control of one’s self that makes the condition worse, a thought that is manufactured in the brain, never the total lack of sense of control.

People with panic attacks have chronic heart disorders. While this may be partly true due to the link between mitral valve prolapse and panic attacks, this does not make the assertion entirely valid. People have good reasons to believe that they are having heart attacks or heart failures when they experience episodes of panic attacks since some of the symptoms of both conditions are similar. But such symptoms are perfectly rational when seen from the viewpoint of elevated fear.

For example, people subjected under conditions that stimulate fear experience tightening of the chest, faster heart beat, profuse perspiration, shortness of breath and increased respiration. All these signs are also symptoms of heart attacks which make it easy for most people to believe that instead of having a disorder of the mind, they are having dysfunctional hearts. But then again, similarity in symptoms does not make two completely different conditions alike.

Myths often offer a semblance of the reality that is not hard to believe in. But do not be fooled. Knowing what is the exact truth and not the half lies may serve you well when dealing with conditions that root from and are aggravated by thoughts.

Find out more about panic attacks here.

For most people, dealing with life stressors job changes, moving, pregnancy, birth of a child, death of a loved one etc. do not result to anxiety and panic attacks. However, to those who are vulnerable to emotional stress, such situations may lead to panic attacks even if these events happened way back in their life.

The reason for this is still not fully understood but it is believed that one major cause of panic attacks is extended period of stress. Not by a few days of tension but by several months of constant worrying and unprocessed emotions.

The chances of having an attack are even greater when a panic-prone person receives unnecessary stress such as additional tasks at work or additional responsibility at home. Instead of performing normally under regular circumstance, the additional load can put more pressure that can lead to more stress which can be a catalyst for an attack.

What is panic disorder?

It is commonly believed that panic attacks happen out of the blue, without any reason. It can happen to anyone at any point in their life. Many people experience one episode of panic attack. However, others go on to suffer from panic disorder. Panic disorder is characterized by several episodes of panic attacks related to past traumatic experiences, existing stress (mentioned above) or something else.

Many attacks last for not more than 30 minutes but the effects of panic disorder can leave lasting effects. People suffering from panic disorder experience emotional stress and excessive fear due to the memory of past attacks. This negative memory has a negative impact to self-confidence and self-esteem, which can lead to the disruption of everyday activities and normal living. While the causes of panic disorder vary from person to person, all conditions lead to these symptoms:

• Anticipatory anxiety or the fear of having future attacks. This can have a detrimental effect to the sufferer since they cannot relax and they always feel anxious and tensed in between attacks.

• Phobic avoidance is characterized by avoiding situations or events in the belief that the situation may cause panic attack. Phobic avoidance can also be avoiding places where help is unavailable during emergency situation.

What is agoraphobia?

Agoraphobia is traditionally believed to involve fear of open spaces or public places. Literally means “fear of the marketplace,” agoraphobia is now believed to be a result of panic attacks.

People diagnosed with agoraphobia show different symptoms. But common to all agoraphobics is avoidance either being in public places or being alone. This is actually a character of phobic avoidance (one distinct symptom of panic disorder). The difference, however, is that the effects of agoraphobia can significantly limit the person’s normal activities. Thus, what sets agoraphobia apart from panic disorder is the amount of activities that the person avoids.

People with panic disorder stay generally active, although there are specific situations that they tend to avoid. On the other hand, agoraphobics limit their activities because of fearful thoughts. These fearful thoughts can be very damaging the person’s life as well as his relationship to others.

Either way, both conditions are the result of panic attacks. Hence, it is always best to know the things you can do in order to prevent panic attacks from recurring and worsening. On the first sign of attack, seek for professional help.

For more info about panic attacks, check out here.

Panic attacks often occur to anyone without warning. So whenever someone had an attack, it is important that you know what to do.

Understand What A Panic Attack Is

A panic attack is a sudden surge of overwhelming fear or anxiety.

It is manifested by several signs and symptoms. During an attack, a person experiences increased heartbeat or palpitation, chest pain, hyperventilation or shortness of breath, stomach churning, upset stomach, trembling and shaking, muscle tension, sweating, dizziness and light-headedness, hotor cold flashes, tingling sensation or numbness, fear of dying, going crazy or losing control andfeeling detached from the surroundings.

Seek For Emergency Medical Help

It is important to call for a health professional especially if a person experiences an attack for the first time.

Identify The Cause Of The Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of panic attack are similar to medical conditions.

Hyperventilation or shortness of breath can be a sign of asthma.

Chest pain, increased heartbeat or palpitation and sweating can be a heart attack.

Talk to the person and determine if the symptoms are caused by other medical conditions. When in doubt, a health professional will be a great help.

Find The Cause Of Attack

While waiting for help, find the cause of attack. Once it is established that the cause of the symptoms is really a panic attack, find the source of the panic and take the person away from it. Do not make an assumption about what the person needs. A person who is suffering from the attack may know exactly what to do or has medications which will get him through the attack, so it is best to ask.

Don’t surprise the patient. Be predictable with your movements. Do not grab, hold or restrain.

Keep him calm and stay calm yourself. Reassure the person that everything is going to be fine but do not dismiss his fear by saying it’s all in your mind or don’t worry about it or you are overreacting.

Take note that the fear is very real to the victim so it dismissing the fear has no effect or can even make the matter worse.

Help the patient to control his breathing. Many patients breathe heavily during an attack; others hold their breath. Using deep breathing technique is a very effective way to purge the symptoms of a panic attack as well as calm the patient down. Guide the person and tell him to breathe in for 3 slow counts. Then ask him to hold his breath for 3 slow counts and breathe out for another 3 slow counts.

Do this several times until the person is calm. You can also advice him to breathe into a paper bag. This way, he will re-breathe his carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide helps correct the blood acid level that had been disturbed by excessive breathing. But be careful when using paper bags since they may trigger another fear.

Stay With The Person Throughout His Ordeal

Never leave a person especially if he is having difficulty in breathing. Be patient.They may act rude or unfriendly but remember that it is temporary and will go back to normal as soonas the attack is over.

Do not forget that for the patient, the thoughts are real. Reassure him the help is on the way.

Never allow the patient to do things that will put his life at risk.

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