When a person experiencing a panic attack first experiences such a situation, they are so terrified that they say that the fear they experience is so difficult that no one can understand it. Yes, this can be very severe for some people. Because the fear and anxiety of the attack, which is both fear and physical complaints together and continues to increase, will never end and the person will not be able to control it, will go crazy, or the thing he fears will happen to him, or even die, peaks. Even though the panic attack is so intense, all the tests done after medical searches come out good and the doctor says "there is nothing wrong, it's psychological", which may comfort the patient at that moment. Recurrence of the attack or the expectation of the attack will damage the patient's trust in the doctor, thus recurrent hospital admissions become inevitable. Because while the patient experiences everything he experiences on a real basis, he cannot realize that the source of the problem is psychological. Of course, the patient is very right here. Because a panic attack can be thought of as a change in the functioning of the centers in the brain, temporarily affecting the functioning of other organs of the brain.
What is a Panic Attack?
Panic attack; It is a siege of fear that occurs unexpectedly, repeatedly, without any specific object (dog phobia, blood phobia, fear of heights, etc.), accompanied by intense anxiety, anxiety, and many physical complaints such as palpitations, tremors, and shortness of breath.
What are the Symptoms of a Panic Attack?
Papalpitations, shortness of breath or feeling like choking, chest pain-feeling of distress in the chest, sweating, shaking or shaking, nausea-abdominal pain, accompanied by intense fear and restlessness, There are symptoms such as dizziness, feeling light-headed, feeling like you are going to fall or faint, derealization - the feeling of being separated from yourself (depersonalization), fear of losing your mind or control, numbness or tingling sensations, chills, chills, hot flushes. In order to call it a panic attack, at least 4 or more of these symptoms must be present.
How Does a Panic Attack Occur?
Perhaps what needs to be said here is that these are not caused by disorders in the organs. But there are stressors that cause anxiety, worry and fear, or the unpleasant feeling of the moment that does not exist. The anxiety caused by the immediate physical sensation may turn into the expectation of subsequent panic attacks. It can be said that this situation creates an imbalance of neurotransmitters (structures that provide transmission in the brain) in the brain, causing panic attacks in the patient as the message from the brain to the organs is fulfilled. In this case, it can be understood better if we try to explain it through metaphors. For example, let's imagine that the manager of an apartment building pressed the fire alarm for practice purposes, and the residents of the apartment who heard this sound had an alarm in their brains, fearing that a fire had broken out, and they ran to protect themselves. In addition to the situation of meeting the oxygen need that occurs when we exert ourselves, such as heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, dizziness, nausea, tremors and sweating, they feel the fear of losing control, going crazy and dying, but when they realize that there is a fire alarm, they relax a little and the sensations from their body return to normal. We can imagine that there is a little chill in them.
What are the Causes of Panic Attack?
So, when we ask what the reasons that affect this might be, we can list many things. But the most stressful situations are situations that we call important life or traumatic events, such as divorce, death of a close relative, family friend or friend, having or hearing about a relative who has had a heart attack or brain hemorrhage. Panic attacks may develop secondary to general medical conditions such as thyroid (goiter) disorders, heart rhythm disorder, heart valve failure, previous heart surgery and many diseases. It is known that there is a high rate of genetic transmission, that it is more common in women, and that it is triggered by situations such as alcohol and substance intake. Childhood traumas, repressed emotions, or difficulty expressing oneself may be factors in later years. It is associated with many psychiatric diseases such as depression, social phobia, specific phobia (fear of seeing blood, heights, elevators, insects, dogs, airplanes, etc.), obsession disease, delusion disease. Panic attacks can occur unexpectedly without any of these, with symptoms such as palpitations that wake you up at night, shortness of breath, and the feeling of suffocation.
Expectation of a Panic Attack
People with panic attacks are They are interesting and restless. When patients start an activity, they suddenly stop or cannot complete it. He thinks that his panic attacks will be triggered and whatever he is afraid of or worried about will happen to him. So much so that he/she avoids sexual intercourse out of fear of getting excited or tired or having a heart attack. The most common situation in panic disorder is listening to one's body. For example; I wonder if my heart is beating fast, slow, is it beating differently, am I breathing inadequately, my arm feels numb, my chest feels tight, my head hurts, and all the attention turns to the body in countless ways. These are the triggering, irreversible symptoms of inevitable panic attack recurrences. Panic attacks may increase in frequency up to several times a month or several times a day. Its duration usually peaks in five to ten minutes and ends in half an hour on average. Sometimes this period can take up to an hour, but there may be an anxious, tense mood between attacks, such as an aftershock. This turns into attacks that fill the glass again and overflow with any triggering situation.
What is Panic Attack with Agoraphobia?
Agora literally means a public square in the ancient Greek period for the announcement of some decisions. The places used are called. Although the word carries this meaning, the state of feeling excessively anxious or afraid of something or a place called phobia can actually be any environment in which the person is afraid of experiencing the symptoms of a panic attack, thinks that he will go crazy, lose control, or that he will not be able to get help if something happens to him. The expectation that panic attacks will occur is a place, If there is a place and the fear of not being able to get help if something happens in these places, or if there is a situation that he thinks will be difficult to escape from, and he starts to escape from these environments, this is called agoraphobic panic attack. It can happen in many places and situations such as in the subway, on the plane, in the cinema, in the shopping mall, sitting in closed areas far from the door, when alone, on a long journey, on a bridge, in the bathroom, when alone at home, and many other similar places and situations. For example, a person who is going to go on a long journey cannot take this risk if something happens to me on the road, if I have a heart attack or a panic attack, I cannot find someone to help me and the hospital is far away and they cannot catch me. He says am and does not dare to set off. Likewise, if I sit far from the door in the cinema, I think that I will not be able to get out in case of fire or a stampede, but the sensations coming from my body increase my anxiety to an extent I cannot control, and the person immediately leaves that environment or prefers a place close to the door. Worse than that, he can never do these things and always runs away. In such a situation, the person avoids facing the situation he or she fears. In this case, he cannot do whatever he does, and his quality of life decreases, self-confidence is affected, functionality decreases, and depression may accompany it. At least one of the symptoms of anxiety, feeling sad about what the attack may cause or its consequences, or exhibiting a significant behavioral change related to the attacks; Recurrent, unexpected panic attacks need to be monitored for a period of at least one month (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition). Panic Disorder History Pan is the god of the field and shepherds in Phrygian mythology. Although this definition has a pastoral quality as it makes Pan directly related to nature, the fact that Pan is depicted as half goat and half human in all myths has made him a frightening figure. So much so that Pan inspired the word panic because he suddenly appeared in front of people in the countryside and frightened them with his appearance. Since Pan is the god of shepherds, he is often described in the sources as a cute figure wandering around the countryside and playing the flute, which contrasts with his scary appearance. Anxiety and other syndrome features occurring in panic disorder have been known for more than a century. In 1871, during the American Civil War, Da Costa described a panic attack-like condition in soldiers during the American Civil War, accompanied by palpitations, chest pain and shortness of breath, which he thought was related to exertion, and which he called "irritable heart".
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