Panic disorder is considered as being an anxiety disorder, and these are the most common of all psychiatric disorders. A few of the other anxiety disorders are agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder.

Once you have determined that you do in fact have panic disorder, you are of course going to want to get proper treatment for it. The first thing you should do is talk to a psychiatrist or psychologist, who will be able to determine for sure whether you have panic disorder and if so assess how serious it is.

Zoloft and Panic Attack

Medications are commonly prescribed for panic disorder, and one of the top medications is Zoloft. The relationship between Zoloft and panic attack is very well known, as Zoloft and panic attack has proven to be very effective.

Zoloft is one of the newer anti depressants on the market today, and the purpose for Zoloft and panic attack is that the medication aims to relieve the symptoms of depression without many side effects. It is used to treat symptoms of depression as well as anxiety, and Zoloft works by acting on the neurotransmitter known as serotonin, thereby allowing electrical messages to be processed more smoothly and efficiently.

Zoloft and panic attack can be used for both adults and children, although if your doctor does not think that Zoloft and panic attack is the solution for you then they will most likely prescribe you another medication.

Other Treatment

There are also other methods of treatment that you can use for your panic disorder other than medication. Cognitive behavior therapy for one, which is used to help change the way you think and therefore the way that you react to certain situations.

Cognitive behavior therapy has proven to be incredibly effective in such areas as anxiety, depression, panic, agoraphobia and other phobias, social phobia, bulimia, obsessive compulsive disorder and more.

If you ever think that you are experiencing panic attacks, you want to mention it to your doctor as soon as you can. Panic attacks will limit your quality of life and so you want to take care of the problem as quickly as you can.

What Not to Do

Panic attacks are caused when the nervous system becomes exhausted. If you are under physical or emotional stress, this is what can cause the worst panic attacks. Panic attacks can always feel like they are horrible, but in reality the worst panic attacks are easily definable from the rest of the panic attacks that you have been experiencing.

So, you might wonder if panic attacks can occur in specific places, which of course they can. For example, if you are not used to public speaking, getting up and speaking before an audience can incite panic attacks. The same can be said if you are in a place filled with a lot of people, such as a theater, or if you are traveling.

Generally, panic attacks can be like asthma attacks in that they result in a difficulty in breathing. The worst panic attacks combine difficulty in breathing with the feeling of your throat closing up, a feeling of dizziness, and hot or cold flashes. Additionally, the worst panic attacks can also make you feel like you are having a heart attack.

So, how do you go about getting rid of these panic attacks? The first thing that you will need to do is realize that the worst panic attacks are caused by emotional factors. If you have recently ended a relationship, or if a loved one passed away, the first thing you need to do is properly go through the grieving process with the help of professional support.

Something else you will need to do is get rid of caffeine in your diet. Too much caffeine acts as a stimulant, and this pumps adrenaline through your body, resulting in a tired body becoming all too active. Instead, focus on getting enough rest and eating healthy food.

For more information on how you can ease your worst panic attacks, discuss your options with your doctor. It will really come down to your ability to not stress out so much, and to heal from any emotional grievances. After all, your health is what should be the most important.

Know Your Family Medical History

Whether or not you are close to your family, it is important that you know what genetic tendencies are present within your family lineage. For example, just as heart problems can be genetically inherited, so can anxiety.

If you know of various members of your family, either past or present, having suffered from extreme anxiety, you are that much closer to figuring out what an anxiety attack is. This is because an anxiety attack can also be mistaken as a heart attack or an asthma attack.

So, what is an anxiety attack? Specifically, it can happen quite suddenly if you find yourself in a very stressful situation. For example, if you are at an amusement park, and are in line for a roller coaster that is known to be very steep, you might have an anxiety attack.

However, it is important to note that anxiety attacks can occur all of a sudden for no reason, and those are specifically referred to as panic attacks. When it comes to describing the specific symptoms of what an anxiety attack is, they can include: shaking, nausea, hot/cold flashes, sweating, and difficulty breathing.

If you want to know if what you have been experiencing lately is what an anxiety attack is, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor. At that time, you will be given a physical exam, as well as various blood tests. This is because sometimes anxiety can be caused by thyroid problems too.

Something else you should do in your attempt to figure out what an anxiety attack is in relation to what you have been experiencing is to think about what has been happening lately in your life. For example, anxiety attacks often occur among people who have suffered an emotional trauma, such as when a loved one dies. This could be the source of your anxiety attacks.

For more information on what an anxiety attack is, go to your local bookstore and look in the medical section. There are a number of books that have been written on the topic, and they can not only give more information on the symptoms, but also information on how to seek the proper treatment.

What is a Panic Attack?

When it comes to the question of what is a panic attack, one of the first things that should be known is that a panic attack is basically uncontrollable. People who experience panic attacks usually cannot feel the attack coming on and, at least at the beginning, are not even sure why they are experiencing the attacks.

There are many symptoms that are associated with panic attacks, including dizziness, weakness, tingling or numbness, and even an impending sense of death or dying. Panic attacks are sudden and discrete periods of intense anxiety, which mount physiological arousal and fear.

The symptoms of a panic attack usually last about ten minutes, while some may be extended and can even last for hours. Panic attacks affect people differently, and so while one person may feel extreme discomfort from a panic attack, another may not even notice that they are experiencing one at all.

Panic attacks are a response of the sympathetic nervous system and the worst part is that the symptoms that are experienced are interpreted with alarm from the sufferer and as a result this causes increased anxiety and forms a positive feedback loop.

Treatment

Another of the most important issues in response to the question of what is a panic attack involves treatment. There are actually quite a few different options here that have proved to be effective, cognitive behavior therapy being one of the most commonly recommended. This is a psychotherapy that is based on modifying cognitions and beliefs with the aim of influencing disturbed emotions.

Relaxation and distraction techniques are often included here, and basically the objectives to this therapy are to identify irrational thoughts and beliefs and to identify how they are inaccurate and unhelpful. It can take a while to see results, but the important thing is that this therapy will help you find relief long term, rather than just temporarily.

If you are a panic attack sufferer, you may feel helpless and as though there is nothing you can do to feel better, but know that there are many people out there who are going to be willing and able to help you and forms of treatment that will offer you relief.

Many researchers now agree with the fact that there is a whole host of unique reasons that may actually trigger out panic attack in an individual. Each of them is unique in terms of demanding unique attention for it. So, quite obviously, there should be different ways to treat panic attack in question.

Adversity of Using Mainstream Medications

The medications used for treating panic attack can provide only a temporary relief from the symptoms, however, not a cure for life. In fact, they come with lots of complications that even turn out to be complicated in their own such as drug dependency, withdrawal complication and so on.

In addition, these medications offer different side effects like dizziness, insomnia, agitation, etc that sometimes become tough to bear with. While prolonged usage turns out to develop critical condition like drug dependency or withdrawal, termination heightens the risk of relapse.

The Rise in Alternative Approach

Considering these complications, many consumers and professionals increasingly shift their attention over finding out alternative ways to treat panic attack. Some of those approaches are truly effective which may include nutritional or supplemental treatment, breathing technique, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, psychotherapeutic intervention, etc.

The most significant benefit one can enjoy by following these ways to treat panic attack is of course ‘absolutely no side effect’. These are indeed natural ways to treat panic attack that can effectively offer long term benefits without any sort of adverse side effects that mainstream medications do.

Natural Nutrition Supplements

The most effective nutritional approach combines raw unprocessed food holding the major portion of the diet, non-hydrogenated and medium-range saturated fat and protein without any steroids, antibiotics or other additives or preservatives. One of the best ways to treat panic attack and restore health is of course to limit the consumption of caffeine, sugar, tobacco and alcohol.

Meditation

Meditation aids in effective control of mind. It is a state of absolute awareness, while being reflective over each and every moment of experience including good, bad, painful or terrifying feelings. As suggested by different researchers, meditation is one of the greatest ways to treat panic attack by influencing reduced blood pressure, decreased heart and respiratory rate, enhanced blood circulation and other remarkable signs and symptoms of ultimate relaxation.

Breathing Technique

No discussion concerning alternative ways to treat panic attack seems complete so far without the topic of breathing technique. Almost all researchers in this field agree that employing slow and controlled breathing technique prior, post or during a panic attack has probably no other alternative. In combination with hyperventilation and systematic desensitization, professionals offer help to people suffering from panic attack and anxiety disorder.

Fear

Fear is one of the major symptoms of mild anxiety attack. It is not the usual form of fear that we mostly are aware of, but some creeping sensation that once you feel you can hardly stop thinking about it. In fact, before the fear reaches to your conscious level, it slinks your subconscious mind. In other words, the fear is actually submerged and it influences you from a deeper level of understanding.

Heart Palpitation

This is another uncomfortable condition and one of the most important symptoms of mild anxiety attack. You find your heart has become a racing heart and sometimes it becomes really hard to get a control over the beats. The symptoms of mild anxiety attack become apparent due to the adrenalin secretion in the body. Although adrenalin secretion is good for body sometimes, preparing it for ‘flight or fight’, excessive secretion may lead to real complications.

Dizziness and Light Headedness

These are significant symptoms of mild anxiety attack. You may perceive a detachment from reality. It seems like you are belonging somewhere else and you are supposed to search for the way to get rid off the surroundings. Since nothing seems real and everything has got changed, you feel again a sense of anxiety of foreign presence, leading you to experience more panic attack in time.

Intense Feeling of Danger

Individuals with panic attack experience an intense feeling of danger. This is one of the most remarkable symptoms of mild anxiety attack. Many researchers believe that an individual with panic attack may have developed an idea of perceived danger to such extent that he may consider himself weak, while the world is a powerful and threatening place to survive. The individual perceives that he is going to die soon which eventually turns the condition more worsened.

Feeling of Helplessness

An individual having panic attack finds himself helpless which intensifies the problem to greater extent. Since an intense feeling of helplessness at one hand and an urge to survive from perceived danger from the other, the individual experiences unusual conflict which leads him to experience more acute shortness of breath on time. This slowly shifts the condition from mild to severe, leading the condition more critical for the sufferer.

An anxiety attack can also be another term for a “panic attack,” which is an unexpected episode of irrational fear in which a number of physical symptoms are present. Panic attacks can be debilitating and may recur. If left untreated they can develop into Panic Disorder. This article will use the term anxiety attack as though referring to panic attacks. The symptoms of anxiety attack and the treatment of these symptoms will also be listed.

Symptoms of Anxiety Attack and Treatment

It is important to explain the cause of the symptoms of anxiety attack before listing them. Worry to a certain extent is natural for human beings. However, the brain has its own method for combating worry when it becomes alarm due to a perceived threat. The brain’s amygdala produces adrenaline, a hormone that prepares the body to handle a fearful situation by either defending itself or by running away.

This “fight or flight” response is a natural defense mechanism and helps humans in times of true stress or danger. The amygdala produces adrenaline whenever the brain perceives fear. Unfortunately, it cannot differentiate between irrational fear and true fear. If a person has a phobia, or an irrational fear of something specific such as spiders, the brain will still produce adrenaline though the person may not need to actually fight or flee. This results in too much of the hormone remaining in the bloodstream and produces the symptoms of anxiety attack.

The symptoms of anxiety attack are as follows: racing heart, sweaty palms, feeling of unreality, numbness in the extremities, hot or cold flashes, chills, nausea, and dry mouth. Treatment of panic and anxiety attacks should begin with ruling out any medical conditions that may be causing the attacks. Next, lifestyle changes need to take place such as avoiding caffeine and smoking (which can cause anxiety), maintaining a healthy diet, and incorporating exercise and meditation into daily life. Yoga is an excellent exercise for combating anxiety because it increases serotonin levels. Serotonin is a relaxant hormone. Medications and therapy can also help treat the symptoms of anxiety attack. It is important to make these changes before the attacks develop into anxiety or panic disorders.

Initial Panic Attack

At the initial stages of panic attack, it seems like to appear ‘out of the blues’. It may occur any time without giving any specific signal. All of a sudden, the individual will become terribly frightened and experience a wide array of uncomfortable symptoms including intense terror, a feeling of detachment from reality or a panic of losing control over own life and existence. This stream of feelings may last from few seconds to few minutes and the symptoms may gradually fade over the course within an hour or two. The experience is overwhelming through the stages of panic attack and may end up in disastrous condition such as heart attack or stroke.

The Advanced Stages

The advanced stages of panic attack are characterized by recurrence panic attacks during which the victims develop an intense nervousness about further occurrence. In the advanced stages of panic attack, it becomes a serious issue especially when the individuals with panic attack develop a condition known as ‘anticipatory anxiety’ or ‘fear of fear’. In most of the cases, this seriously interferes with life events even when the panic attack is actually not on its progress. The anticipatory anxiety may lead the individual to experience phobia about anticipating the situations or events where the panic attacks may occur.

Individuals with panic-induced phobia become tend to stay away from situations where they experience panic attack before. As a result, the scope of their life interactions becomes limited. Both their professional life as well as personal life gets severely affected. In the advanced stages of panic attack, an individual may experience an extreme difficulty in sleeping since they fear of getting panic attack during sleep and spend time awaken in a state of intense anxiety and terror. The condition may worse so extensively that the individual may deny sleeping and suffering from exhaustion when they even try doing so.

No matter what you are experiencing at this moment while reading this article, if you find and relate some symptoms in your life, better not to be late in seeking professional advice. In the extreme level of panic attack, it is disabling and life-threatening too. So, take action now.

Some people recognize what their triggers are while others have no idea and strive to find out. People experiencing these panic attacks may feel as though they are dying or experience a sense of impending doom that they cannot explain. They may feel as though they are going crazy and as a result want to remove themselves from whatever situation they are in.

When it is a Severe Panic Attack

There are regular panic attacks which are already frightening enough, and then there are the severe panic attack episodes which are even more serious. There are certain symptoms that you may experience at the onset of a severe panic attack, and this includes pounding heartbeat, smothering sensation, tingling numbness of the skin, sweatiness, shakiness, and nausea, just to name a few.

Treatment

Anyone who has experienced a severe panic attack before wants to determine treatment so that they will never have to go through it again. This can be quite tricky, because before you can properly deal with your attacks you are going to have to figure out what it is that is causing them.

Treatment is especially important because most panic attack sufferers will begin avoiding certain situations that they once used to enjoy, and therefore their quality of life will be greatly affected. You need to be serious about your treatment and be dedicated to it. This is definitely a physical condition, but your mind has to be willing and able to handle the situation if you want to see results.

Remember that if you are a severe panic attack sufferer and do not get proper treatment, you may continue to have panic attacks for years, and the more you suffer from this condition the more you will isolate yourself from your friends and family members. You may start avoiding even the most normal situations such as grocery shopping or driving.

You may begin to be unproductive at work and possibly even get fired. This seems very unfair, considering that people who have panic attacks are basically helpless to the condition and are not doing it on purpose.

If your panic attacks are beginning to affect you the best idea is to start talking about it to people, both personal and professional, so that they understand what you are going through and will have more compassion.

“Psychosis,” on the other hand, is a general term for a break with reality. The literal definition of the term from Greek is “abnormal condition of the soul.” Those experiencing psychosis or psychotic episodes have delusions and/or hallucinations. Psychosis is much different than panic and phobias. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) is the psychiatric guidebook to all mental health disorders and diagnoses. It classifies mental disorders under five separate “Axes.” The following will help differentiate panic attack from psychosis and panic disorder from psychotic episodes.

Panic versus Psychosis

The DSM-IV classifies all major clinical mental disorders on Axis I. This means that both Panic Disorder and Psychotic Disorders are classified on Axis I. However, the criteria needed to obtain these diagnoses are very different. The criteria for Panic Disorder (without agoraphobia) include the following: recurrent panic attacks and at least one month of concern about future attacks, worry about the result of the attack (i.e. looking crazy in public) and change in patterns of behavior related to the panic attacks. True Panic Disorder is not caused by a medical condition or as the result of a substance or medication.

Psychotic Disorder may include any of the following: presence of hallucinations, delusions, a formal thought disorder, or lack of insight. Psychosis can be brought on by organic, or non-psychological conditions, such as neurological disorders, electrolyte imbalances, illnesses such as the common flu, and substance abuse. A simple way to separate panic attack from psychosis is this: panic attacks happen in reality and psychotic episodes are more about un-reality.

The most important difference between Panic and Psychotic Disorders are that panic attacks go hand in hand with Panic Disorder while psychotic episodes occur in the nine different types of Psychotic Disorders. In a panic attack versus psychosis situation, the panic attack sufferer may be better off in that at least he/she is aware of reality and that the panic attack is abnormal.

Those suffering from psychosis may be completely unaware of their surroundings and may have delusions and hallucinate about sights, voices, and smells that do not actually exist. Then again, in a panic attack versus psychosis situation, the psychotic person may be blissfully unaware of the pain they cause others or the embarrassment they cause themselves. Panic attack sufferers live in fear of embarrassing themselves in public by having another attack in which they feel they will lose control, vomit, tremble, or go crazy.