Panic Attacks

What is a Panic Attack ? 

It is a  condition were the sufferer has a severe attack of anxiety, they may feel like they are having a heart attack as the heart races, they sweat, tremble, breathing becomes difficult, the have tunnel vision and they fear they my die, it can be terrifying for the sufferer . It become  increasingly more difficult to lead a normal life as the fear of a Panic Attack is ever present. They fear bing in a public place, being at work and in social situations and this in turn can lead a withdrawal from society. The Panic Attack is just the body’s own Fight or Flight Response and is actually there to protect us, it may not seem that way when you are having Panic Attack but it really is there to help you survive.

 

What is the Fight or Flight Response ?

Think of it like this – lets go back ten thousand years when large man eating animals prowled the land, if we saw such an animal and we were threatened by it we had 2 choices, try to fight it off or kill it ( fight ) or run away ( flight ), in order to do this our body needed to get a burst of energy and it needed it quickly, so the brain released chemicals into the blood stream to help us to fight or to run away, these chemicals would speed up our heart rate , pump oxygen to our muscles, we would sweat as our body temperature went up, blood would flow away from the head to our muscles and vital organs and in effect exactly the same things that someone who is having a panic attack will experience. In the modern world however we do not have to deal with large animals trying to catch and eat us anymore but the brain has not learned this so continues to respond in the same way that brains have always responded to perceived threats .

I always remember a client describe their panic attack to me like this “ I suddenly experienced a rush of adrenalin and my palms began to sweat and there was tightening in my chest and I felt like I was having a heart attack and I could not breathe properly I felt real terror and I thought right then that I was going to die”.

This frightening condition can treated very effectively using a mixture of Hypnotherapy and Relaxation Techniques.