Panic Attack Symptoms and Causes

Before we talk about the causes of panic attacks and symptoms you might experience, I first want to say that the fact that you're even familiar with the term "panic attack" is a really good thing. There was probably a time that you weren't. I personally was experiencing panic disorder for over a year, and had spent thousands of dollars on therapy, before I knew what was going on with me.

During that time I really thought I was going crazy. I'd have attacks while I was driving, while I was lying in bed, standing in lines, at movies. Anywhere, and anytime - I could not escape them. And I don't think I could ever adequately describe that time of my life to a person that hasn't experienced panic attacks - other than by saying to imagine your version of hell, or a place of constant fear and anxiety and mental suffering. I mean, thinking that you're losing your mind in itself is a pretty terrifying thing. Other anxiety symptoms that I experienced personally during that time were the racing heart beat, chest pains, tensions headaches, dizziness, diarrhea, constant fear of health problems, fatigue, paranoia, constant sweaty palms, depersonalization, and of course the panic attacks themselves. Panic attacks in a very simplified sense I think can best be described as an intense onset of dread and intense fear with an overwhelming sense that something awful is about to happen - like you might be having a heart attack or a mental breakdown, or maybe you even feel like you're about to die.

However, in terms of my overall anxiety experience, panic attacks actually ended up being a good thing in a way. Because they're what prompted me to figure out what was wrong with me. They couldn't be ignored. It got to the point that I couldn't do anything else in my life - I didn't feel like I wanted to go on living with that kind of feeling with me. So it made it an absolute necessity that I figure out what the situation was, and resolve it. And the good news is that once I discovered what was going on (what a panic attack was and why it occurred), it didn't take me too long to figure out a way to reverse the phenomenon. And that's what I want to share with you here.

Knowing why a panic attack occurs will really help with understanding the solution.

So as a panic attack sufferer, I think I can safely speculate that you, like I did, have a tendency to worry about things. You're often expecting the worst, or something less than wonderful. Kind of like negative thinking is your default manner of thinking. You're probably more likely to worry about bad things happening than to expect good things. And to a certain degree that's actually a good thing - its kind of a survival instinct to worry and keep aware of danger and problems. But it's definitely gone overboard if you're experiencing anxiety and panic attacks.

So those, what I'll call negative thoughts, could really be revolving around anything - perhaps social situations, financial issues, health issues, future events. Really anything... I shouldn't even mention examples because every person is unique and life is just full of things that have the potential of being worried about. So for a person that has a tendency toward that manner of thinking, it's really not hard to fill a good part of your day or even your entire day with worries and fears. And when that's the default manner of thinking in your life, what happens during a panic attack is that all those fears and worries just start lingering in your mind - even when you're not consciously or directly thinking about them. Some psychologists might say that the fears are lingering in your subconscious mind.

So what happens during a panic attack is that your body starts to react to those fears in your mind as if they're real - just like actual physical danger. And the way it does this is by releasing stress hormones (e.g. adrenaline) into your body. Adrenaline, if you don't know, is the fight or flight hormone that puts your body into a really heightened state of alertness- which is also characterized by a sense of fear and anxiety or nervousness.

The problem is that this reaction is occurring without the actual presence of any physical danger. I mean, if you could see that a bear was attacking you or that you were about to get hit by a car, the adrenaline feeling would be totally normal and you wouldn't be thinking that the feeling was strange at all. But without the associated visuals, you don't consciously understand what that feeling is. So what happens is that you get fearful of that sensation itself! Well, fear of that sensation just creates more adrenaline... Which just adds to the sensation... Then you become more fearful because there's more sensation... Then as you're more fearful – more adrenalin... More sensation, more fear... And this spiral just keeps intensifying, and it doesn't take long before you're in a full blown panic attack.

So, that in simple terms is what causes a panic attack. And yes, it is terrifying. But the good news is that reversing the condition is not a very complicated process. And better yet, its probably going to do a lot more good for your life than to just stop panic attacks.

Now from I've described here you might be thinking that I'm just going to talk about positive thinking. But its really not that simple. As a panic disorder suffer myself, I know from experience, you can't just start thinking positive thoughts and hope that panic attacks will stop. In fact, that kind of approach can actually make things worse, which you may have discovered already. So if what I've described so far rings a bell for you, if what I've described about panic attack causes and symptoms sounds familiar at all and if you'd like to continue, click the link below for my free audio instructions.

Stop panic attacks with Self Therapy