Several million Americans will suffer from symptoms of panic anxiety or panic disorder and anxiety disorder during their lifetime. Symptoms start before the age of 25, with some patients experiencing symptoms during childhood, and continue well into old age without intervention.
Anxiety disorders have different forms. Some of the major forms of anxiety disorders, including panic disorders, are obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic disorder, and separation anxiety.
The symptoms of the conditions mentioned above differ from one another. All of them, however, are characterized by irrational extreme and often disabling fear, anxiety and worry in connection to the object of fear or anxiety. In the majority of cases, patients know that their fears are irrational. Nevertheless, knowing these don’t help them manage their symptoms.
Causes
While the causes of these disorders are yet to be identified, there are storing evidences, although not concrete, to suggest that these are inherited and tend to run in families. At one point, researchers believed that these are psychological problems. As it turned out, genetic factors, abrupt or extreme changes in the brain signals, and activities as well as body chemistry all contribute to the development and worsening of the conditions.
Anxiety is a mechanism that allows a person to respond in relation to a threatening situation. In general anxiety and panic are caused by irregularities in one of the body’s evolutionary fight-and-flight mechanism, anxiety that is. In people with any anxiety disorders, such mechanism go off even when there are no real threats. It is not always necessary that there should always be a physical cause to triggering this mechanism. All it needs is that for the person to think that such harm is present.
Signs and Symptoms
Symptoms of anxiety disorders differ from one condition to another. Nevertheless there are a handful symptoms commonly reported by patients of anxiety disorders.
* Muscle tension * Fatigue * Intense wave of fear, apprehension, dread, anxiety or stress * Irrational and extreme fear and irritability and confusion * Inability to remain calm * Inability to stay focused
On top of what were already mentioned, people experiencing panic attacks and those diagnosed with panic disorders complain of the following symptoms:
* Faster heartbeat or racing heart * Increased sweating * Shaking or tremnling * Pain or discomfort in the chest * Shortness of breath * Dizziness, light headedness, or faint * Sensations of losing track of time * Feeling the need to escape or find escape * Derealization or detachment from the reality * Depersonalization
Treatment options for Anxiety and Panic Disorders
Panic anxiety disorders are treated with a range of treatment methods. Medications are usually very helpful for short-term treatment, although there are types of panic and anxiety medications that are designed for long-term treatment. Psychological therapies, on the other hand, are designed to help patients identify the thinking patterns that lead to attacks of anxiety, cope with the symptoms as they try to eliminate them, and eventually recreate healthier and more appropriate thinking patterns.
Suffering from panic anxiety is not laughing matter. Both conditions are often described as among the most terrifying and intensely frightening experiences, comparable only to dying. Find help now and be free from these debilitating conditions.
