Almost everyone suffers from an anxiety attack at some point in life. It may be a concern that there is a chance of personal harm or the fear of failing a given task. The mind and body go into synch and actual physical symptoms tend to manifest themselves. For some people unfortunately, normal fear becomes paralyzing and persistent and anxiety attacks become a way of life.
Understanding what anxiety attacks are, how the symptoms present and what can be done, shows an insight into what an anxiety sufferer is going through. It can also help the person who suffers to realize their need to seek out effective treatments before anxiety takes over their life. Therefore knowing the anxiety symptoms and treatments on both sides of the equation helps everybody.
Anxiety attacks are very similar to the mental and physical reactions that happen in the fight or flight phenomena. The mind perceives there is an impending threat and the body immediately reacts. The difference between a ‘normal’ attack and an abnormal situation generally involves the perceived threat. In anxiety disorder cases, the danger can be quite ordinary, but not always. What happens here is that the reaction is out of proportion to the situation, or the threats perceived are not really there. For example, a person may have an extreme fear in meeting new people socially. There is no danger in this but their mind thinks there is and the body reacts to the situation.
Panic and anxiety attacks can have a one time presentation or they might occur on a repetitive basis. In the case of the latter, therapy is almost always advised as repetition is generally a sign of a more serious anxiety disorder.
In most instances anxiety attacks have very fast and intense onsets. They are often displayed by the following symptoms:
- Intense feelings of danger and fear
- Physical symptoms including chest pains, heart palpitations, sweating and trembling
- A feeling of a surreal atmosphere or depersonalization
- A strong feeling of impending doom and even the fear of death
- Lack of breath
- Hot flashes or chills
The regrettable thing about anxiety attacks is that their symptoms often imitate other serious health conditions. This can lead to false diagnosis and even fuel the fears that death is imminent. When anxiety attacks are properly diagnosed, people generally are treated with a combination of medications and therapy to help them regain control of their lives.
Anxiety attacks are very real manifestations of fear. They might present out of irrational fear or they can actually be quite normal reactions to a serious situation. If they are repetitive, help generally is required to overcome them and the cause. Alleviating anxiety and stress is important for overall mental health and wellbeing.
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