Panic Attack Causes - Not Just Psychological
Millions of people all over the world suffer from panic attacks. In some places, maybe it's easy to understand why – life isn't easy in many areas. But why are panic attacks and anxiety disorders so prevalent in safe middle class western countries? Why is it that someone who has never faced a life threatening situation feels as if their life is being threatened? There are many things about panic attack causes which may surprise you.
Those who support the psychological cause theory put forward a number of ideas. Modern lifestyle, stress, effects of a traumatic event. Okay, they are all completely understandable causes, but why is it that one day, while out doing something which you have done thousands of times before, you are suddenly stricken with a terrible sense of doom accompanied by heart palpitations, hyperventilation, shaking and all the other symptoms of a panic attack? What was it about the grocery shopping on that particular occasion that inspired such an awful fear?
First of all, the jury is still out on whether the causes of panic attacks are physiological, psychological or a bit of both. Proponents of the physiological causes believe that understanding the chemistry of the brain will lead to the answer of what causes panic attacks. A small part of the brain called the amygdala – so called because of its shape (amygdala in Greek means almond) - is part of a system responsible for our mental and emotional state. It is here that not only is fear internalized and a reaction to it produced, but where the memory of fear is stored.
The amygdala reacts to what our senses garner – smells, sights, sensations – and activates emotions such as anger, avoidance and defensiveness in response to them.Sometimes, the amygdala can become hyperactive and misinterpret signals from the body which then leads to inappropriate responses – such as panic. Exactly why this happens is not yet understood and it is this piece of information that is the most important if we are to understand the pathology of panic attacks.
The amygdala is part of a pathway whose interconnections mean that there are three systems at work in the production of a panic attack. The first is the autonomic nervous system (which helps people adjust to changes in their environment), the neuroendocrine system (which regulates the hormones) and behavioral cognitive process (responsible for the what if?... disaster scenario).
It is interesting to note that the amygdala is the brain structure that differs most widely between the sexes. This may be of importance as panic attacks affect twice as many women as men.
Questions and Answers
Anyone who has ever had a panic attack knows how life stopping these events can feel. A panic attack can seriously hurt your quality of life by causing you to become terrified of a repeat episode. This terror is just another negative side effect of panic attacks, and you should learn to think of it as such so that you can get on with your life without the constant fear of a panic attack hanging over your head. Worrying about having a panic attack all the time might even cause you to trigger pani
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In this article, I will try to debunk 3 of the myths of one of the more common behavioural conditions—panic attacks. At the end of the article also discuss an innovative and new approach to overcoming anxiety and panic attacks that aims to tell you the hard and honest truth about the conditions.
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