Panic Attacks, Research Paper Example

A panic attack may be terrifying but, fortunately, a physically safe incident. It can take place randomly or after an individual is exposed to a variety of events that might generate a panic attack. They hit the highest point in strength very rapidly and vanish with or without medical assistance. Many people go through this experience, while many learn to cope and, ultimately, to fight it effectively. In this paper, I will do my best to define panic attacks, talk about the causes of the attack, and identify its treatment. My research will be based on book, professional journals, and articles.

Overview

Individuals facing panic attacks may be terrified with the fact that they are dying, suffocating, or suffering a heart attack. They may express horror by saying that they are going mad and search for a way to remove themselves from any condition or place they may be in. A panic attack is, in fact, an exaggeration of the body’s usual reaction to excitement, fear, or anxiety. The human body involuntarily gets itself ready for danger, by means of manufacturing a large amount of adrenalin for ‘fight or flight’, when dealing with circumstances perceived as prospectively threatening. This process would have equipped our ancestors to struggle or run away from peril, however, it is much less suitable to the stresses people stumble upon these days. Reactions including increased sweating, dry mouth, paleness, and intense breathing occur in a matter of seconds, and are able to happen during the moments of enjoyable excitement and in fear-provoking and intimidating conditions as well. Surprisingly, the symptoms disappear within approximately an hour.

Causes

As with most behavioral illnesses, there is a number of causes for panic attacks. There is sound evidence that the predisposition to have panic attacks can occasionally be inherited. On the other hand, there is also an indication that panic can be a learned reaction and that the attacks in question might be commenced in otherwise healthy individuals merely given the correct set of conditions. Panic attacks might be caused by personality traits, childhood influences, and various physical causes. Episodes from childhood, and the way a particular person was brought up and educated, might make one susceptible to panic attacks in future. “Every child experiences anxiety, and usually a caring parent can help make it pass” (Winerip 4). Being hypercritical and disapproving of oneself, and determined to correspond to the expectations of other people, is frequent in people who experience panic. An individual can have struggle in articulating needs and asserting oneself. The physical causes that might trigger a panic attack include over-breathing, unstable sugar levels, food allergies, antidepressants, alcohol, and drug consumption, brain dysfunction, and experiencing chronic pain. Researchers are still indentifying the causes of panic attacks.

Symptoms

There are quite a lot of symptoms of panic attacks that are currently known in the medical world. They include fear of dying and losing control, felling dizzy or faint, trembling, shaking, palpitations, sweating, smothering, fast heart rate, chills, numbness, and a number of other sensations caused by adrenalin flooding one’s body. “One of the core symptoms of panic disorder is recurrent, unexpected panic attacks. A full-symptom panic attack requires the abrupt onset of at least 4 physical symptoms (e.g., palpitations or dizziness) or cognitive symptoms (e.g., fear of going crazy or losing control) that reach a peak within 10 minutes” (Choy 40). The attacks can be so immobilizing that an individual is not capable of expressing what is happening to him/her or to other people. In order to diagnose and assess anxiety disorder and panic disorder a 7-item anxiety scale (GAD-7) is implemented in as a clinical measure for defining generalized anxiety disorder. A study was conducted within a primary care-based sample size, determining the GAD-7 positive likelihood ratio of 4.9, thus the chances that a person has generalized anxiety disorder are 4.9 higher in case of positive GAD-7.(Hallgren and Morton, 2007)

Treatment

The general treatment applied for panic attacks are reassurance and relaxation techniques, because of relatively short duration of a panic attach, which usually lasts no more than an hour. Therefore, the patient would probably feel better by the moment he/she gets to the hospital. Multiple of even single panic attack can be a result of panic disorder. However, there is a slight difference between what we call panic attack and panic disorder. Thus, “panic disorder can be defined as recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, along with continuous underlying concern of another panic attack occurring and the consequences and effects of an attack.”(Munn, 2008) Agoraphobia, can complement panic disorder in up to a third or to a half the patients.  Agoraphobia can be defined as “the presence of fear and anxiety characterized by avoidance of situations or places where escape might be difficult or help unavailable.”(Munn, 2008)  Panic disorder is treated with cognitive behavioral therapy (psychotherapy), or there are certain pharmacological ways and methods for overcoming the disease. The combined therapy, involving both psychotherapy and antidepressants has proven to be more effective by means of treating panic disorder, than if they were implemented separately. Eventually, even Freud suggested that basic goal of his psychotherapy in the case of “Little Hans” was resolving the issues before the anxiety was down. “It follows that these repressed impulses would need to be brought out into the open and resolved before his anxiety about horses would diminish.”(Vrana, 94)

Cognitive behavioral therapy and self exposure proved to be the most efficient ways reducing panic disorder outcomes for the predominant number of patients, thus causing the patients to improve their self-management skills and coping strategies. There are also cases of couple-based treatment of patients with agoraphobia, conducted through excessive caretaking and active anxiety management skills’ reinforcement. Thus it makes partner assigned therapy efficient for treating panic disorder. There is also a chance of using pill placebo treatment in order to boost cognitive-behavior therapy. “The review concluded that in the acute stage a pill placebo in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy resulted in an increased chance of 26% for a response from the treatment compared to those who received cognitive behavioral therapy alone.”(Munn, 2008) Behavioral therapy is efficient in the cases of depression, panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder. Even though the possible ways of its administration can differ from face to face therapy to a group setting, the therapy effectiveness does not change or decrease. In case of cardiac cause for panic disorder the doctor can prescribe aspirin and blood pressure medicine to diminish the anxiety. Another anxiety medicine can also be prescribed, like diazepam or lorazepam during the evaluation and assessment stage of treatment. However, the medications may not necessarily be prescribed right away after the diagnosis of panic attack is made, for the person requires further evaluation, thus passing through mental health profession for identification of other possible disorders. In order to deal with panic disorder and GAD one a doctor can prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine, and fluvoxamine. “A recent effect-size analysis suggests that GAD is generally less responsive than panic disorder to pharmacotherapy; also, residual symptoms of GAD may need to be addressed by cognitive-behavioral therapy.”

Basically, panic attack is considered to be physically safe incident, even though it may look petrifying. Panic attack usually occurs as a result of panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder. Consequently, patients must be exposed to various assessment and diagnosing procedures, including psychological course, in order to determine the cause of attacks and set an effective treatment. It appears that a decent number of people go through these attacks, but most of them learn to cope and fight them. However, they usually need professional help and guidance, or even medical treatment course.

Works Cited

Choy, Yujuan. “Treatment planning for panic disorder: evidence-based treatments.” Psychiatric Times 25.2 (Feb 2008): p.40.

Munn, Zachary. “Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia: Treatment.” Evidence Summaries – Joanna Briggs Institute. Adelaide: 2008.

Salters-Pedneault, Kristalyn. “Strategies for assessing and treating comorbid panic and generalized anxiety disorder: understanding the differences between GAD, panic disorders, and panic attacks.” Psychiatric Times 26.2 (Feb 2009): 24.

Vrana, Scott. “Anxiety Disorders.” Psychology Basics. Ed. Nancy Piotrowski, Ph.D. Vol. 1. Salem Press, 2005.

Winerip, Michael. “Child Anxiety That Goes Beyond the Norm”. The New York Times. 20 Jul. 2008: 4(L).