Panic Medications Cannot Bring About A Complete Cure On Their Own
Article by Beth Kaminski
Panic is nature’s way of making you ready to face a tougher situation. You feel panic when you think you cannot do what you are supposed to do. However, as soon as gripping fear passes out, you find new strength to cope with the situation that had frightened you just minutes before. Remember, the time you went to meet the headmaster or the old bully at school. You felt an incapacitating fear that did not allow you run away. However, very soon, you got a new strength to fight back and you did it quite successfully.
You would not have thought so had you experienced panic attack. It is so horrible that there is no scope for feeling silly. The dictionary describes it as a sudden overpowering feeling of fear or anxiety that prevents somebody from functioning, often triggered by a past or present source of anxiety. However, the definition cannot describe the terror that a person suffering from panic attack feels.That was panic. It was bad as long as it lasted. However, it was nothing compared to the panic attack some people have to endure. It is just too horrible to be depicted in a few lines.
Panic attacks, like ordinary panic come suddenly. An attack can come anytime, in the midst of an enjoyable conversation or a film or while on the road, traveling somewhere, or just as you are relaxing by yourself. Just think of a situation, where you were just about to go out, may be to pick up the grocery, when suddenly you felt a tremendous wave of fear for no reason at all. The fear seemed to engulf you. Your heart started pounding; you felt a constriction in the chest, it seemed you could not breathe. The symptoms seemed to accelerate every second. You did not know what was happening to you.You felt you were going to die.
Neither of that happened. You became all right soon, how soon you do not know because your condition at that time did not permit you to do anything else, but to suffer. You had yourself checked and the reports showed that you are as healthy as you can be! However, the experience you had lingered deep in your mind and made you wonder if you are going to face another such attack soon!
Then, one day it happens once again. Oh! The same horrible feeling of dying, of becoming crazy and you know, in spite of all thee reports something is horribly wrong with you. You have yourself checked and some body says,” Don’t worry friend! You just are just having some panic attacks. Nothing is wrong with you.”
Those who have no idea, will casually say, “Oh! It’s is just a panic attack”. They can never imagine how intensely a person having a panic attack suffers! A panic attack will have at least four of these following symptom, each is bad enough on its own…1. accelerated heart rate 2. rapid breathing, which gives a feeling of smothering3. sweating4. shaking and trembling5. discomfort and pain in the chest6. nausea and stomach upset7. dizziness in the head8. tingling in the hand9. hot or cold flashes10. a fear that something horrible is going to occur11. need to escape12. fear of dying13. fear of losing sanity
It is important to note that just as panic is substantially different from anxiety, so is panic attack different from anxiety attack, although these two terminologies are often used interchangeably. May be it is because panic attacks falls under a bigger umbrella called ‘anxiety attack’ or because fear of another such attack gives rise to such an intense anxiety in the person, that he often starts avoiding certain situation, especially from where, he thinks that it would be difficult to escape. Other wise, we have generalized anxiety disorder, which too falls under the ‘anxiety attack’ and is characterized by constant worry that is either unfounded or not at all proportionate to the cause.
Thanks to the extensive research done by the mental health personnel, anxiety treatments are easily available these days. The psychologists use a two-pronged strategy to combat anxiety illness, which include panic attack. Unless the attacks are severe, panic attack can be cured by psychotherapy only. Anxiety treatments should start as early as possible. Other wise, people suffering from panic disorder may develop agoraphobia, which is the fear of being in places from where escaping is difficult or impossible. Agoraphobia too falls under the umbrella of anxiety attack we talked about. Often if left untreated, such persons develop alcohol dependence as well.
In term of panic medications, specific members of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and the benzodiazepines are approved by the Drug & Food Administrations to treat panic attacks. Examples of such medications include sertraline and paroxetine from the SSRI group and clonazepam from the benzodiazepine group.
However, only medication cannot help a patient of panic disorder, unless it is accompanied by psychotherapy. Two therapies are mainly used. Cognitive behavior therapy tries to change the thought process and teaches the patient to come in terms with the object that give rise to panic. Panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy tries to identify the malfunctioning defense mechanism that produces panic. Often medicines are used in the initial stage only. However, there can be no permanent improvement without psychotherapy.
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