Anxiety/Panic Attacks – Allison Keating’s advice

Allison Keating is a registered psychologist & director of bWell Clinic.

Definition: Sudden, unprovoked, emotionally intense experiences of impending doom, fear of dying, “going crazy”, or loosing control, marked by psychological, emotional and physical reactions. Panic attacks are sudden, discrete periods of intense anxiety, fear and discomfort that is associated with a variety of somatic (body) and cognitive (mind) symptoms.

 

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The onset of these episodes is typically abrupt and may have no obvious trigger. Although these episodes may appear random, they are considered to be a subset of an evolutionary response commonly referred to as fight or flight that occur out of context, flooding the body with hormones (particularly adrenalin) that aid in defending itself from harm.

Bourne, E. (2005). The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook,  4^th Edition: New Harbinger Press.

According to the American Psychological Association the symptoms of a panic attack:

• Commonly last approximately ten minutes
• Can be as short as 1-5 minutes
• While more severe panic attacks may last for an extended period, sometimes hours.
• Often those afflicted will experience significant anticipatory anxiety in between attacks and in situations where attacks have previously occurred.

Who does this affect:

• Panic attacks affect everyone differently.
• Experienced sufferers may be able to completely ‘ride out’ a panic attack with little to no obvious symptoms.
• Panic attacks can have a debilitating impact on the person’s life, impacting on their self-confidence and belief. The anxiety can leak into many different areas of the person’s life as they experience panic attacks in different locations and situations, notably, anticipatory anxiety can lead in this vicious cycle where an actual panic attack is occurs because of the fear of it happening.
• Others, notably first time sufferers, may even call for emergency services; many who experience a panic attack for the first time fear they are having a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. (Wilson 1996)

Symptoms of Panic Attacks

 

Physical	Mental
Increased heart rate, palpitations	Loss of the ability to react logically to stimuli
Shortness of breath (dyspnea) & hyperventilation	Loss of cognitive ability in general
Sweating, trembling and physically shaking	Racing thoughts (often based on fear or illogical worry)
A feeling of choking or a feeling of being smothered	Loud internal dialogue
Lightheadedness, dizziness or vertigo	Feeling of impending doom
Nausea / stomach pains	Feeling of “going crazy”
Chest pain or feeling like you are having a heart attack	Extreme worried feeling
Tingling or numbness in the hands, face, feet or mouth	Feeling of extreme nervousness
Feelings of unreality or feeling like you could die	Feeling out of control

 

Note: It is always recommended that you consult you Doctor should you experience any of the above symptoms.

Emotional	Perceptual
Terror, fear of death	Tunnel vision, heightened senses
Fear of going crazy or losing control	Feeling of loss of free will, as if acting without control
Flashbacks to earlier panic trigger	Dream-like sensation or perceptual distortion

 

How can you STOP a panic attack?

Stop Breathe Learn relaxation techniques Seek professional help

The bWell Clinic will be doing talks using

the bWell Anxious-less Method

For more information go to www.bwell.ie

 

 

Next Fitness by Declan Rothwell