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A community of patients, family members and friends dedicated to dealing with Panic Attacks, together.
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Panic Community
Panic Articles What are panic attacks and panic disorder?
Panic Articles What are panic attacks and panic disorder? | What are panic attacks and panic disorder? |
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| Written by PanicJoe | |
| 12 June 2007 | |
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A panic attack is a sudden bout of fear and anxiety; a Panic disorder is a repeating occurrence of panic attacks. Panic attacks can be caused by a stress situation, but they can also be an unexpected occurrence with no apparent reason. Such attacks last between 5 to 20 minutes. The body has an automatic response of heightened adrenaline, which helps cope with or run away from danger. In a Panic attack this response overreacts, in a panic disorder, this response is triggered to often and sometimes when it is not needed at all. A Panic attack makes a person feel in danger and scared “to death” even if they are not in any danger at all. When one suffers from a panic disorder, the fear of a repeated attack is an important component of one’s panic. A person who experiences repeated panic attacks begins to panic that this may reoccur, and the process feeds itself. This person will also try to avoid situations that may cause panic attacks and thus the quality of life is severely affected by the disorder. Note that it is possible to develop panic attacks without developing a panic disorder. Panic attacks occur also with other anxiety disorders. And of course it is normal to panic when one is in a very hard situation. |
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