Many of us in our day-to-day lives experience intense fear or intense discomfort and excessive anxiety that reaches a peak within a few minutes. This is called a panic attack. People who have frequent and unexpected panic attacks, then this situation is called panic disorder. Not every person who has a panic event goes on to have a panic disorder.
A study shows that one-third of the population has experienced panic attacks at some point in their lives, and among them, 4.7% have developed panic disorder. The prevalence of developing panic disorder is low, but untreated panic disorder can severely disrupt your normal life. Females are two to three times more affected by this disorder than males, and it mostly occurs at a young age (median age of 24). So all of us need to know the symptoms of panic disorder and its treatment.
Criteria to recognize a person with panic disorder
There is a group of symptoms that occur during panic attacks if four or more of these symptoms occur frequently, which indicates that this person has developed this disorder. With Mnemonics we can easily remember these symptoms of panic attacks and that is: STUDENTS Fear the 3Cs
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Unsteadiness
- Depersonalization / Derealization
- Excessive heart rate
- Nausea
- Tingling
- Shortness of breath
- Fear of dying, losing in control or going crazy
- Chest pain, Choking and Chills
One month or more of the anxiety about panic attacks. This attack can take two forms.
- Persistent concern or worry about additional panic attacks or their consequences
- A significant maladaptive change in behavior related to the attacks
The disturbance is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or another medical condition. And it is not better explained by another mental disorder.
Strategy for alleviating the probability of developing panic disorder
If you want to prevent developing panic disorder, then you have to know the ways to break down panic attacks. Let me teach you how to break panic attacks in 2 minutes without any medications. Strategy for alleviating the probability of developing panic disorder:
Slow deep breath: Put your feet on the ground, sit comfortably, make sure you are in a safe place, and inhale air for 5 seconds through your nose, which increases the volume of your abdomen, not your chest, and then exhale through your mouth for 5 seconds. In this way, we can activate our vagus nerve, which can slow down our current symptoms of attack.
Dip into cold water: If you have the availability to fill up your sink with really cold water, ice cold, as cold as you can make it, and dunk your head directly into the water, that will slow down your heart rate up to 25% and that can break a panic attack in and of itself.
Wrist-forearm techniques: This technique is combined with a slow, deep breath, where at the same time you grab your elbows and drag your hands along with your forearms and down to your wrist, and then just repeat. It’s just a little self-massage with breathing. It will be super calm and super chill.
You can also take some medications by consulting with your doctor. These medications, usually known as SSRIs, will help you avoid unexpected situations and effectively lessen the symptoms of panic attacks. There is also a long-lasting treatment known as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) that you can take. This therapy will approximately eradicate this disorder with higher accuracy.
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Writer,
Abdullah Jaman
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE