By: John Cielo
Submitted: 2010-08-13 08:29:22 | Word Count: 621
The key thing in understanding panic attacks is to remember that they cannot harm you. The symptoms you experience are just your body's reaction to a set of circumstances that are explained here. Once you understand what causes your panic attacks you will be much more able to prevent them occurring in the future.
We'll begin with the symptoms of a panic (anxiety) attack...
[ advertisement ]
The usual symptoms of a panic attack are; hyperventilation, palpitations, rapid heart beat, tightness across the chest, tight throat, dizziness, hot or cold flashes, sweating, trembling, tingling fingers, a feeling of detachment, feeling of impending 'doom', feeling you're having a heart attack, etc.
Now let's look at what causes these symptoms...
You first need to learn about a phenomenon called 'fight or flight'. This is the term given to a response of your body to a situation in which your unconscious mind thinks that you are in mortal danger. This is a primeval response which has been programmed into all of us since the beginnings of the human race.
When your unconscious perceives of a dangerous situation it rapidly sets in motion chemical, mental and physical changes in your body to give you the best possible chance to either fight or run away from any danger. These very rapid changes are responsible for the symptoms of panic attacks.
But there isn't any physical danger, so why do panic attacks occur?...
Panic attacks normally happen to people with already higher-than-normal anxiety levels. So that when faced with an stressful event such as sitting an exam, driving in the rush hour, shopping in a crowded supermarket, etc., the additional stress pushes the overall anxiety level to such a level that your unconscious mind 'perceives' this as you being in a dangerous situation, and so acts as it has been programmed to do.
Now when this happens to you, it happens unexpectedly, because you aren't in any physical danger. And because you can't figure out why these changes are happening in your body, you believe something catastrophic such as a heart attack is happening to you; you have no other explanation. This is why the symptoms are so frightening; you have no rational explanation for them.
So you can now see that your symptoms of panic attacks are just you body's over-the-top reaction to an event as simple as an everyday stressful event which, under normal circumstances, you would handle without any problem. And because you now understand that, you are better placed to handle these attacks when they occur.
But there is one critical thing you must do and that is eliminate your 'fear' of anxiety attacks...
Having suffered from at least one attack, like most victims, you'll now have an understandable subconscious or conscious fear of having another. And no matter how much you now understand how an attack happens, you'll need to get rid of your fear in order to prevent more panic attacks and cure your underlying general anxiety.
This is because your fear builds upon your already heightened anxiety levels and so fear itself can trigger another attack. It's really a vicious 'cycle of anxiety':- anxiety >> panic attack >> fear >> increased anxiety >> panic attack >> fear >> increased anxiety >> panic attack >> and so on.
Author Resource:-
To discover the simple 'ONE MOVE' technique that will eliminate your fear factor and so break your vicious cycle of anxiety, go to http://eliminatepanicattacks.blogspot.com and prepare to get your old self back again. Just click here now.
