Appropriate treatment for panic disorder can prevent panic attacks and substantially reduce their severity and frequency, bringing significant relief to 90% of people with panic disorder.

Panic attacks may be symptoms of an anxiety disorder. These attacks are a serious health problem in the U.S. At least 2% of adult Americans, or about 65 million people, will suffer from panic attacks at some point in their lives. Women are twice as likely to fall a victim. The peak age at which people have their first panic attack is between 15-20 years. Another fact about panic is that this symptom is strikingly different from other types of anxiety; panic attacks are so very sudden and often unexpected, appear to be unprovoked, and are often disabling.

According to one theory of panic disorder, the body\’s normal \”alarm system,\” the set of mental and physical mechanisms that allows a person to respond to a threat, tends to be triggered unnecessarily, when there is no danger. Scientists don\’t know exactly why this happens or why some people are more susceptible to the problem than others. Panic disorder has been found to run in families, and this may mean that genetics play a strong role in determining who will get it. However, many people who have no family history of the disorder develop it.

Another risk factor for developing panic disorder as an adolescent is a history of being physically or sexually abused as a child. This is even more the case for panic disorder when compared to other anxiety disorders.

Without treatment, panic attacks tend to occur repeatedly for months or years. While they typically begin in young adulthood, the symptoms may arise earlier or later in life in some people. Complications, which are symptoms that can develop as a result of continued panic attacks and develop into other mental illnesses, may include specific irrational fears, especially of being away from home, avoidance of social situations, depression, work or school problems, suicidal thoughts or actions, financial problems, and alcohol or other substance abuse. Panic disorder also predisposes sufferers to developing heart disease.

If ignored, anxiety may worsen to the point at which the person\’s life is seriously affected by panic attacks and by attempts to avoid or conceal them. There may be periods of spontaneous improvement in the attacks, but these attacks do not usually go away unless the person receives treatments designed specifically to help people with panic attacks.

The psychotherapy component of treatment for panic disorders is more important than any medication treatment. In fact, research shows that psychotherapy treatment is more effective than medication in overcoming panic attacks. To address anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy is widely accepted as an effective form of psychotherapy treatment, for both adults and children. This form of therapy seeks to help those with panic disorder identify and decrease the irrational thoughts and behaviors that reinforce panic symptoms.

Behavioral techniques that are often used to decrease anxiety include relaxation techniques and gradually increasing exposure to situations that may have previously precipitated anxiety in the individual. Helping the anxiety sufferer to understand how to handle the emotional forces that may have contributed to developing symptoms has also been found to be effective in teaching an individual with panic disorder how to prevent an anxiety attack or to decrease or stop a panic attack once it starts.

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Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: acute anxiety, panic attacks, anxiety disorder