All About Anxiety Attack Versus Panic Attack – What Causes Them, Symptoms and Treatments

Anxiety And Panic Attacks can be a very scary thing for anyone to deal with. Not only do they happen when least expected, they tend to mimic heart attacks and other serious health problems, which leaves the individual to wonder if they will even live through it.

This article will cover what causes anxiety and panic attacks, the most common symptoms related to them, as well as the most effective treatments available.

Within healthcare, anxiety and panic attacks are actually classified as a psychological problem, with the terms anxiety attack versus panic attack being interchangeable. But this is actually not completely true, because this problem is actually more of an issue with the nervous system than it is mental.

Stress is the most common trigger, but anxiety and panic attacks actually occur due to how the person’s nervous system reacts to that stress.

Basically, an individual who lives with anxiety and panic attacks experiences a much more intense reaction to what would make most of us nervous. In order for this to make sense, we need to first have an understanding of the parts of the nervous system that are involved when we experience stress.

They are called the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). Instead of making this boring like a text book, let me share a story to explain how this works.

Let’s say that a bear walks in the room as you’re reading this article. Your brain will identify the bear as stress, because it threatens your life (and I don’t know about you, but I’m a little on the chunky side, so I’d make a pretty good meal for that bear).

Your brain is hard-wired for survival, so at this instant, it has to make a decision – do you run from the bear or fight it? Either way, the body needs to be prepared for this additional activity, so your brain will turn on the Sympathetic Nervous System.

This part of your nervous system prepares your body to either fight or flee – so your blood pressure raises (you need plenty of oxygen to the muscles so they can help you run fast or fight), your heart beats faster, you breathe more deeply, and many other things.

Once the bear is gone, the brain turns on the other part of the nervous system that I mentioned (the Parasympathetic Nervous System), which does the opposite – it calms you down.

When a person experiences anxiety and panic attacks, this reaction is intensified – so, there may only be 1 bear in the room, but your brain thinks there’s actually 5 bears. This is where the problem develops.

So, with that said, what are the signs and symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks? Well, the symptoms of a panic attack are different for each person, and they can be experienced to different degrees.

Some individuals will have very minor anxiety and panic attacks, so may not even realize what is occurring. Others have full-blown, very intense attacks that make them feel like they may be dying.

Click here (anxiety and panic attacks) to continue reading this article, where you’ll discover the most common symptoms associated with anxiety and panic attacks, as well as the most effective treatments available for relief from this health problem.