Panic Attacks

Andrew Lim asked:


So…what exactly is panic attack and why do people start having them suddenly? The fact is this, panic attack can start for many reasons such as stress, overworking, angst, etc. The significance of this is that panic attack can strike anytime and anywhere for no apparent reason at all.

This is why people can get confused and thinks that they are going to die when experiencing panic attack for the first time. They start to associate panic attack with the situation they are in and avoid that particular situation. They start to think that they are in danger and they “know” they are going to faint or “have a heart attack”, which is totally untrue!

Their heart is pounding so hard that it feels like its going to burst – heart attack? WRONG! This is the symptoms of panic attack, it feel like a heart attack but its not, its just a panic reaction of the human body. Your supposed to feel that way when your panicking.

During “normal” panic reaction, adrenaline is produced by the body. Adrenaline is produced in case your faced with a dangerous or a stressful situation. Increase in heart rate and breathing, hands and legs start shaking, etc, these are all effect of adrenaline. During a panic attack, the body misinterpret the situation as dangerous and produced adrenaline for no reason, as a result you start to feel all sorts of uncomfortable symptoms.

In order to control panic attack and get rid of it forever, you must “rewind” yourself. The body needs to know that the situation is not dangerous at all and there’s no need for the panic reaction. For example, some panic attack sufferers avoid public transport because of several incidents in taxis which resulted in their panic attack and therefore start associating any public transport with fear and panic. This is where “rewinding” comes in. They need to tell their brain that there’s nothing wrong or dangerous about public transport and it doesn’t need to start a panic reaction.

The fact is this…learning how to stop the fear is the KEY to getting rid of a panic attack. Remind yourself about the FACTS about panic attack:

-Panic attack CANNOT cause heart attack

-Panic attack CANNOT cause suffocation

-Panic attack CANNOT cause fainting

-Panic attack CANNOT cause you to go mad/crazy

-Panic attack CANNOT cause you to die

As you can see, panic attack CANNOT harm you. You will ALWAYS be fine and nothing will happen to you.