Panic Disorder: Symptoms, Signs and Treatment
What Is Panic Disorder?
If a person is sitting at home, suddenly feeling their heart racing, sweating, and having difficulty breathing. They think that something really bad is happening or about to happen. This is known as panic disorder. Sudden attacks of intense fear and anxiety are key symptoms experienced by people with panic disorder.
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Key Symptoms and Signs of Panic Disorder
Understanding the symptoms is crucial to recognizing panic disorder. There are a few mentioned below.
Sudden Fear That Hits Hard: A person faces sudden fear or a feeling of impending downfall. A fight or flight response can occur in this situation; a person either wants to escape from the situation or seek help.
Physical Signs: Physical signs can be a rapid heartbeat, chest pain, dizziness, trembling, shortness of breath, sweating, stomach discomfort, and suffocation.
Cognitive Signs: People with panic disorder can have cognitive level signs, including losing control over situations, fear of dying, being disconnected from reality or oneself, excessive worry, and anticipatory anxiety, e.g., feeling that something bad is about to happen.
Behavioral Signs: People with panic disorder may show behavioral changes, such as avoiding specific situations and places. This avoidance can have a deep impact on a person's various aspects of life, such as work, personal, and social life.
Anticipatory Anxiety and Worry: People with panic disorder experience continual worry about what is going to happen. Persistent worry about the future and fear of losing control are the common signs of panic disorder.
These symptoms do not guarantee the development of panic disorder, but a person with panic disorder may show these types of signs. For the treatment, it is essential to seek professional help.
Risk Factors of Panic Disorder
Here are the common factors that may play a role in increasing the risk of developing panic disorder.
Inherited Factors: Genetics play a crucial role in developing panic disorder. A person with a family history of panic disorder is at a higher risk of developing it.
How the Environment: Traumatic experiences, such as the loss of a loved one, can play a role in increasing the risk of developing panic disorder. Furthermore, major changes in surroundings, such as life transitions, chronic stress, and regular life stressors, can also contribute to enhancing the risk of the development of panic disorder.
Personality Traits: Personality plays an important role in how people cope with the conditions. People with neuroticism and emotional instability, anxiety sensitivity, and a higher level of self-consciousness may be more likely to develop panic attacks and panic disorder.
Childhood Struggles: Negative childhood experiences, such as neglect, abuse, childhood trauma, and family environment issues, can contribute to long-term mental health challenges. Childhood is an important phase of overall development and nurturing mental health.
Related Mental Health Challenges: Panic disorder can occur with other mental health conditions such as depression, specific phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The occurrence of panic disorder with these conditions can make treatment challenging.
Note: The above-mentioned risk factors may increase the risk of developing Panic disorder. However, not all of these factors contribute to the development of panic disorder.
Treatment for Panic Disorder
Treatment of panic disorder combines therapeutic approaches, lifestyle modifications, and stress management techniques.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy) is a very effective and helpful approach for the treatment of panic disorder. It helps in the identification of negative thoughts and beliefs, which can be triggering factors in provoking panic disorder. It plays a role in modifying negative thoughts into positive ones, improving coping with panic-inducing situations.
Gradual Exposure Technique
The gradual exposure technique can help reduce avoidance behavior in panic-inducing situations. Gradual exposure involves gradually confronting feared situations that are associated with panic attacks. It helps reduce avoidance behavior and boost motivation to face challenging situations.
Getting Emotional Support through Therapy
Joining supportive therapy, such as support groups, can provide an opportunity for emotional support and encouragement. People can share their experiences and learn from others having similar conditions, which increases their motivation to cope with panic disorder.
Lifestyle and Stress Management Techniques
A few lifestyle modifications and adopting techniques to manage daily stress can play a crucial role in coping with panic disorder symptoms.
Stress Management to Cope with Panic Disorder
To reduce the severity of panic disorder symptoms, adopting stress management techniques can be very helpful. Lifestyle modifications such as exercise, adequate sleep, meditation, and mindfulness can have very positive results in the management of panic disorder. Stress management techniques can help reduce the risk of panic attacks triggered by stressors.
Staying on Track and Monitoring
Regular follow-up with mental health professionals is necessary to monitor and deal with challenges. Mental health professionals can help in staying on track and monitoring progress for effective treatment.
Getting Professional Help
It is necessary to get mental health professional support. Mental health professionals can help through various therapeutic techniques for the effective treatment of panic disorder.
Final Thoughts
Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that can result in attacks of fear and anxiety. Mental health professionals can help in the treatment through various therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and gradual exposure. Gradual exposure is effective in improving the ability to confront fear-inducing situations and decreasing avoidance behavior. Stress management techniques and regularly staying on track can be effective in reducing the severity of symptoms and improving overall well-being.