Many of us have experienced a pounding heart, sweaty palms, a feeling of constricted breathing -- perhaps before giving a speech, getting on an airplane, asking for a raise. But for some people, those same symptoms are accompanied by dizziness, shortness of breath and even a sense of impending doom. These people may be suffering from a panic attack, says Dr. Elias Shaya, chief of psychiatry at Good Samaritan Hospital. And although panic attacks can be potentially disabling, they also are considered treatable.
People often refer to panic attacks in casual conversation or even as a joke. What really constitutes a panic attack?
From a medical standpoint, a panic attack is a state of severe anxiety manifested by predominantly physical symptoms and some emotional symptoms.
The physical symptoms can involve a rapid heartbeat, a flushing sensation that goes down the neck or face, a sense that a person is suffocating, or something is stuck in their throat and they can neither swallow nor cough it up.
There also can be [gastrointestinal] symptoms: upset stomach, nausea or a feeling of a knot in the stomach. The person may experience perspiration, or feel dizzy, that they are about to pass out, and a tingling sensation in their fingers or face. If the panic attack progresses, it can cause a state of tension in the hands -- as though the person can't move his hands.
What causes a panic attack?
It can be triggered by anything. The trigger can be a real stimulus such as a person is about to be attacked by a fierce dog. And it also can be an exaggerated threat, say a phobia about enclosed or high places.
And then -- and this can get a little tricky -- a person can get a panic attack for no clear reason. It comes out of the clear blue sky. It can wake them up or it can happen when they are watching TV or reading, and they are stricken out of the blue. And that becomes really disturbing to them: It is on their minds much of the time, and they fear having another attack all the time, and that is when we call it panic disorder.
How many people are affected?
A panic attack isn't a condition -- it could happen to any of us at any time. I'm sure all of us have experienced something like it for a variety of reasons. But when we are talking about a panic disorder, then the statistics vary significantly from study to study: If we survey the entire American population over a year, anywhere between 1 [percent] and 8 percent suffer from it.
