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Why Do People Have Panic Attacks

By: Paula Adams


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Why do people have panic attacks? It can be different reasons for different people. But the common thread is that a panic attack is in your mind. It is a reaction of your body in response to an imaginary perceived threat.

Panic attacks are terrifying experiences. Your heartbeat starts racing, you have a feeling of impending doom. You need to 'flee or fight'. The terror that you feel is out of proportion to the situation that you're in. No one has died from a panic attack, but you feel as if you might be the first. You start having chest pains and find it hard to breath. You are dizzy and nauseous. The 10 or 20 minutes that the attack lasts seems like hours. When it is over, all you can do is wonder when you will have another. How would a life free of the fear of another panic attack feel?

When our body is threatened, we have two options - flee or fight. Our pulse starts to quicken as our heartbeat starts racing, we may start to sweat, shake, and tremble. These are all natural reactions, but the problem is there is no real threat. So why do people have panic attacks? Why does the body think there is a threat?

Why some people are more susceptible than others we don't know. There is evidence that panic disorder runs in families. If you had a parent that suffered from panic disorder, depression or bipolar disorder, you may have a higher chance of developing a panic disorder also.

Many experts believe that panic attacks are caused by stresses in life. Some possible triggers of a panic attack are major life experiences such as going to college, having a baby, getting married or getting divorced. By dealing with the stresses, you reduce the possibility of having a panic attack. But life is all about stress so why do some people have panic attacks and not others. Statistically, women have almost twice as many panic attacks as men. This difference can also be because men may not report an attack as a woman would. A first attack usually occurs between the ages of 15 and 19. There are different stressors during your teenage years as there are in your later years. But it may not be the particular stressors but how our mind handles stress.

Seeking help from a medical practitioner can help relieve stress and thereby the possibility of panic attacks. But do not be discouraged if you are given a treatment and it does not work immediately. Because people are different, treatments will be different. There are some schools of thought that you have to go back to find the cause of the initial attacks in order to stop them. Other experts believe that you have to learn how to overcome the symptoms of the attack once they start to present themselves. And there are others who believe that you can start from the present and free yourself of the fear of having another attack – which is usually the cause of having another.

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Start living free of the fear of an impending attack. Don't keep preparing yourself for the time when you will have another attack. The stress of waiting for another attack can actually bring one on. Learn why do people have panic attacks, how to stop them and get back to a more meaningful life where every place can be a 'safe zone'. A former panic attack sufferer has developed a simple technique which can giv

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