subject: What Causes Anxiety and Panic Attacks? [print this page] What Causes Anxiety and Panic Attacks? What Causes Anxiety and Panic Attacks?
Anxiety and panic attacks will make the sufferer feel very helpless as the heart races and the thoughts of either going mad or dying are all around them. But, in reality, during an attack a sufferer is at their strongest, their fastest and their most prepared for threat.
The reason why panic attacks developed, is because adrenalin, the hormone responsible for the fight or fight response to real threats, is released into the blood stream. This hormone is very useful if and when it is needed, but, when adrenalin is released during an anxiety disorder such as panic disorder, there is no 'real' threat present, so it is not used up by either running from or fighting the threat.
This build up of Adrenalin causes the heart to race, the breathing to quicken and the digestive system to slow down; these systems then produce unpleasant symptoms like dizziness, sweating, palpitations, shortness of breath and many other physical sensations of anxiety disorder. The sufferer also starts to experience anxious thought patterns... the 'what if' thoughts which can make the sufferer feel like they are losing their mind. Don't worry though, it is a fact that you are NOT going mad or die.
The sad thing is when panic attacks sufferers visit their physician or doctor, they will be told that they have 'stress' or 'depression' and then receive prescriptions for antidepressants or sedatives - this is very wrong!
Since anxiety disorder is not an illness, it is impossible for any drugs or medication to have any permanent curative effect on it.
Anxiety attacks usually happened once but it can escalate into a panic disorder if the attacks happens regularly and more than once. Panic attacks can cause a disturbing group of symptoms which cause the sufferer to fear the next attack.Unfortunately it is this fear of having another attack that causes them to have one!
