Panic attacks are characterised by a sudden and intense sensation of fear and impending doom. If you have a panic attack, you may feel that you are going to die. The fear is accompanied by physical symptoms of breathlessness, tingling fingers, tremor, palpitations (irregular, fast heartbeat), giddiness, and sweating.
The problem may get worse if over breathing sets in, because this triggers all sorts of strange sensations such as tingling, palpitations, confusion, cramps, pains and feelings of weakness. Some people may misinterpret the symptoms of a panic attack for something far worse e.g. a heart attack. This can make the attack even more severe and frightening.
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About half of the people with panic disorder seem to be helped by learning to breathe calmly when an attack feels near. An acute panic attack will often subside if you breathe in and out into a bag. This allows you to re-breathe your own carbon dioxide. Though it may seem a strange thing to do, it allows the acidity in the blood that is upset by over breathing to return to normal. This removes many of the strange sensations that panic causes.
For some people, just knowing that their panic is caused by a vicious circle of fear and body sensations can help calm them down.
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Talking treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, can help you to re-think the way you interpret changes in your body. For example you may need to recognise that a fast pulse could be due to running upstairs or drinking too much coffee, rather than interpreting symptoms in a 'catastrophic' way (e.g. I'm going to die, or I'm going to faint). This kind of re-thinking is achieved through demonstrations by the therapist and through activities you carry out at home.
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Written in 2003
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