Know the Facts about Panic Attacks

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Panic attacks are not a feeling or a fear that one has control over. This is a fear that freezes a person so that he/she is not always able to get past it. The person that lives with it is the person that hurts the most. They rarely get understanding or emotional support from anyone including themself, and are subject to a lack of compassion and insensitivity. This disorder does not always come from a way of thinking, or a bad past experience, although that could trigger it more.

A hypnotherapist will usually take multiple approaches to working with a panic attack sufferer. For example, the person may be taught physical and mental relaxation techniques (important for calming the racing heart and other physical panic attack symptoms), self-hypnosis, visualization, and guided imagery to use when he or she feels a panic attack approaching. The panic attack sufferer may be taught how to reinterpret sensations and feelings so that the early stages of the panic attack do not escalate and become "full-blown.

To stop panic attacks, the person suffering from them should first see a doctor. The doctor will ask the patient a series of questions and give him or her a physical examination to make sure that health conditions are not causing the panic attacks.

Panic attacks can cause a feeling of desperation in those that experience them. Often those who have panic attacks feel as though they are going crazy or even dying during the attack. Doctors say this isn’t unusual. Many of the physical symptoms experienced during panic attacks are the same or similar to symptoms of more serious diseases of the heart, lungs, intestines and nervous system.

The sympathetic system is responsible for releasing the adrenaline from the adrenal glands on the kidneys. These are small glands located just above the kidneys. Less known, however, is that the adrenal glands also release adrenaline, which functions as the body’s chemical messengers to keep the activity going. When a panic attack begins, it does not switch off as easily as it is turned on. There is always a period of what would seem increased or continued anxiety, as these messengers travel throughout the body. Think of them as one of the physiological causes of panic attacks, if you will.

Nocturnal panic attacks are as random as their daytime counterparts are, they just seem to happen for no reason at all and there is precious little that can be done to avoid them because the victim is fast asleep when they happen. As mentioned earlier, you must not confuse nocturnal panic attacks with dreams, as the two are completely unrelated. It is practically impossible for people who suffer from nocturnal panic attacks to even remember what they were dreaming about.

The closest analogy to what happens during panic attacks is found in how the human body reacts to fear or a threat. There are established rules of behavior in our brain on what it must do when faced with sudden danger to the body or life. Fear causes panic attacks more than anything else though the nature of fear is not always clear. A panic attack is the body's response to a threat that is not really there.

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