While most panic attack episodes are relatively harmless, some attacks can prove fatal if coupled with other complications or situations. These attacks are especially dangerous for those who have a diagnosed cardiac condition such as Long QT syndrome and CPVT (Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia). Difficulty in recognizing if the patient is having a cardiac attack or a panic attack can lead to death. In order to avoid deadly mistakes, sufferers and those living with them need to know which panic treatments work and which don’t.

Contrary to popular belief, the paper bag trick sometimes doesn’t do the trick.

Most doctors advice sufferers of panic attacks to breathe into a paper bag to re-establish a normal, breathing pattern. This short term treatment is advisable if those who are experiencing panic attacks are truly undergoing hyperventilation.

In hyperventilation, the rapid exhalation of the person causes a severe drop in carbon dioxide levels in the body, raising the blood’s pH level. This results in the constriction of blood vessels supplying the brain, starving the brain of oxygen. This in turn makes the brain ask for more oxygen, thereby initiating a positive feedback loop; in short, exacerbating the situation.

To break the cycle, paper bags were introduced. By breathing into a paper bag, the person traps the carbon dioxide in the bag so that when he inhales, he inhales back the carbon dioxide he expelled, helping to rebalance the carbon dioxide level in the body.

However, if a panic attack sufferer is not really undergoing hyperventilation, breathing into a paper bag may worsen his condition as this can fatally lower oxygen level in his body and raise the carbon dioxide level in his bloodstream; ironically, high carbon dioxide levels have been found to be a major cause of panic attacks.

Of course, using the paper bag trick isn’t the only treatment available for sufferers. In fact, researchers and scientists alike have made great strides in the development of panic treatments that are more effective and longer lasting.

For example, panic attacks sufferers can be given a combination of medication and psychotherapy treatment. Psychotherapy is widely believed and agreed upon to be the best treatment for panic attacks; with medication only considered as second option for treatment in cases where patients are resistant to psychotherapy treatment.

Cognitive behavioral treatment and behavioral activation are two psychotherapy treatments which have been proven to be effective in treating the disorder. A patient experiencing panic attack may be treated using desensitization techniques. In this kind of treatment, a patient is gradually and repeatedly exposed to situations or stimuli which cause them to have a panic attack.

Patients are helped by group therapy sessions and counselling to recognize that their fear of losing control or of dying is unreasonable, and that there is exactly nothing to fear from situations that cause them to have the panic attack in the first place. Once sufferers realize that nothing bad is going to happen to them, they are usually able to learn how to relax and take control of their fear. Panic sufferers would be glad to know that panic treatments involving any of the following have been proven to be effective.

Author Bio: Do you want to learn how to stop panic attacks? Learn how an “Average Joe” beat panic attacks with dead simple techniques! http://www.selfsteps.com

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Keywords: panic attacks,panic attack,panic attacks instead,panic attacks secondary,panic attacks sufferers