A panic attack is a an experience that can best be described as terrifying. Personally, I’ve only had a couple of low level panic attacks that I was able to “shake off”, but they took place when I was seriously handling some anxiety issues. There are quite a few people who have not been as fortunate as I have, and have ended up in the hospital at least once from a panic attack. Like anything else, the key to getting past panic attacks is to find out what is causing them in the first place. It sounds easy enough, but it is often a bit more difficult to figure out the potential panic attack causes than most would think who have never had one.
One common cause of panic attacks would be a genetic predisposition to panic and anxiety. It doesn’t sound great to think that your ancestors were likely sufferers from panic attacks as well, but it does show that the condition can be a bit more severe and common than you would think. Many who suffer from panic and anxiety often feel alone and like people are looking at them like they’re nuts. Of course, nobody is nuts who has panic and, or, anxiety problems. At least, I don’t think I’m crazy, and I’ve dealt with plenty of anxiety through the years.
The second common cause could be a traumatic even that happened recently or even years ago. This goes without saying, and considering that I’m far from any sort of an expert on the matter, this will be all I’ll write on this subject. I’d be very happy to have a few people willing to share comments or possibly write a post on the blog if willing. Nothing too personal, just a bit on what it’s like having panic attacks linked to one event.
Perhaps the most common cause of panic attacks would be simple stress. I know that I’ve had borderline panic attacks and near constant anxiety during periods of high stress. It is common and it is a super simple explanation. After all, stress is more or less a synonym for anxiety in many people’s thinking. The severity and overall impact of stress is what my simple explanation for the resulting panic and anxiety attacks would be.
Surely, someone with more professional experience could talk a bit about the differences, but for my purposes on this blog, this suits us just fine. Either way, when in a period of extreme stress, it is a fair bet that many people will develop some level of panic or anxiety disorder. Whether you are genetically predisposed to these problems or not, I would guess with enough stress in steady enough doses, everyone will eventually crack a little bit.
There are a number of other conditions that could cause panic and anxiety attacks. They are so far outside of the realm of this blog though, that I am not entirely comfortable writing about them. Just understand, that regardless of the causes of your panic attack and anxiety, that there is nothing to be ashamed of, and at some point, nearly everyone will experience these problems.
Thanks for the post. It’s a pretty simple site, but I like where you’re headed.