Do you notice that you sometimes experience panic? Your palms start to sweat, your breathing becomes shallow, you start shaking,.... Panic has a strong link to the emotions which you feel. In many cases you experience a panic attack as a result from anxiety or stress, which has already been present for some time. A panic attack can be a terrifying experience in itself, because you often feel like you lose control of your body and mind. You do not seem to be in control of your breathing and other functions anymore. Furthermore, it is possible that you look down at yourself as if you were another person, seeing what is going on. This phenomenon is called depersonalisation.
Panic? The symptoms!
As mentioned earlier, a panic attack is an expression of long-term stress or anxiety, where several symptoms can occur. First of all there are physical symptoms. These entail the dilution of the pupils, the quickening of the heartbeat, the shallower breathing, sweating, and tensing of muscles. Your body starts to prepare in this phase to respond to an anxiety stimulus, so that you could run faster from a dangerous animal, for example.
Furthermore, there is the psychological aspect. Oftentimes people feel like they lose control, that they are separated from their bodies, but also from what is really happening. The latter is called derealisation. The combination of physical and psychological factors can make it so that experiencing a panic attack is a very intense experience, which in turn can cause a new panic attack. This way, a vicious cycle of panic occurs.
Panic? The treatment?
It is possible to experience one single panic attack, and are spared any further panic attacks without necessarily going through therapy. However, this is seldom the case. As mentioned earlier, there namely often is a vicious cycle of anxiety, where fear of fear causes anxiety, which drastically increases the number of panic attacks.
15 Minutes 4 Me can help you to break out of these vicious cycles! The program was developed by doctors and psychologists, and is based on cognitive behavioral therapy and solution focused techniques with which to:
- Inform what anxiety and panic entail exactly and what it does to your body and mind
- Learn how to replace unwanted habits, linked to anxiety and panic attacks, with wanted habits to reduce panic attacks
- Learn relapse prevention, in order to give anxiety and panic attacks less room in the future.
Panic? Take the test here!
Would you like to know to what extent panic, anxiety, and stress affect your daily functioning? Then take the free anxiety test here!
