So, You Want to Know How to Stop Panic Attacks?

When performing a search for panic attacks or panic disorder on the American Journal of Psychiatry website, you will net over twenty-five thousand hits.  That statistic would suggest quite a bit about how widely the disorder is studied and it’s prevalence. 

M. Katherine Shear, M.D., of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania developed a Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) back in 1997, which scale can be administered in about five to ten minutes by a clinician.  The PDSS is used widely in the medical community as the first step in determining how to stop panic attacks for each individual patient and it measures the following seven factors:  panic frequency; distress during panic; panic-focused anticipatory anxiety; phobic avoidance of situations; phobic avoidance of physical sensations; impairment in work functioning; and impairment in social functioning.

One or more of these factors are sure to be recognized by people who suffer from panic attacks as things that negatively disrupt their lives.  These people may or may not have undergone assessment by the PDSS, but that doesn’t make them any less prone to the symptoms of panic attacks, and the constant fear that they will suffer another attack.  This article will focus on how to stop panic attacks based on psychiatric and psychological treatment.

Understanding What Panic Attacks Are

Before we can discuss how to stop panic attacks, we must first look at what they are, what causes them, and why medical professionals believe they happen.  A panic attack is a terrifying experience that is the core of panic disorder.  Choking or smothering sensations; fear of losing control, dying, or “going crazy”; feeling unsteady; feelings of nearly paralyzing terror; nausea or stomach pains; numbness or tingling in fingers or toes; shortness of breath; and sweating are all symptoms that people who are having a panic attack can experience.  Many people who are having a panic attack will report to the emergency department believing that they are having a heart attack, and it’s easy to see why when you look at all these symptoms.

People between the ages of 25 and 30 are usually those who begin to have panic attacks.  There are times when someone’s panic attack has been set off by a life-altering event such as divorce, the death of a loved one, or even the birth of a child or upcoming marriage, but is unfortunately mistaken for another condition.  Many patients do not correlate their first attack to the actual trigger, making it very difficult to determine what started their attacks, and delaying diagnosis and treatment for far too long.

When a person believes that he or she can pinpoint their triggers, they may start to avoid certain things, which can lead to the development of phobia-type illnesses, including agoraphobia.  It is important to get treatment to avoid having this cycle become a slippery slope with the symptoms growing worse over time.  The good news is that once panic disorder has been identified, it’s treatable, and around 90% of those who suffer from it go on to live healthy, attack-free lives.

Medical Treatment Options

The first treatment option is psychotherapy and consists of a couple of different types of therapy – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Therapy.  With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a patient will be asked to keep track of their episodes to help figure out what may be causing them, and will also be provided with education about the disorder.  Breathing techniques are then learned so that the patient can effectively control the attack while it is occurring.  The basis of this type of therapy is that the patient can control their own thoughts, rather than allowing any outside influences to control them, and by so doing, can control the awful feelings that he or she has during an attack.  This therapy is regarded as the quickest way to stop panic attacks by the medical community.

Based on CBT, Exposure Therapy forces the patient to face the things that trigger their attacks.  Triggers can be anything from thoughts or memories that spark an attack to traumatic experiences the patient has been through, or even certain situations.  This therapy starts out with the patient and therapist together trying to uncover the patient’s triggers.  This, naturally, can be the most difficult part.  The patient, after a determination has been made as to what the trigger is, will then, with help from the therapist, will have to face that trigger, a little at a time until he or she can meet it head-on.  The underlying theory is that if you can face your fear, you can overcome your fear.

Medicinal Therapies

Many times therapy will be supplemented by medication that treats the symptoms and occurrences of attacks.  These fall into four general categories:  Tricyclic Antidepressants; Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs); Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs); and Benzodiazepines.

Tricyclic Antidepressants are antidepressant drugs that lay claim to roughly twenty-something side effects ranging from those as mild as dry mouth, to those as serious as irregular heart beat and muscle breakdown.  Because of their toxicity, Tricyclic Antidepressants are in the process of being replaced by SSRIs, described below.

Without expounding on the scientific values, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors increase the amount of serotonin in the body.  While serotonin is an organic compound (a neurotransmitter) that regulates a person’s mood, the side-effects of these drugs are many, with the most notable being sexual side-effects such as erectile dysfunction and decreased libido, along with renal or liver impairment and headaches.

Prescribed chiefly for smoking cessation and as antidepressants are Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors.  These are seriously strong drugs and usually not used unless really indicated because of the way that they interact with many foods and other drugs (sometimes causing death).

Benzodiazepines actually act as hypnotics in high doses, and the Drug Enforcement Agency classifies them as depressants that can cause amnesia, hostility, irritability and disturbing dreams.  It’s important to keep the long-term effects in mind, but these drugs have been shown to control panic attacks.

Many people have found medications to be very effective in their efforts to stop panic attacks, despite the scary side-effects.  It is critical that you do your homework before you begin any form of therapy, and do not hesitate to discuss your concerns about drug therapy with your doctor before he or she hands you a prescription.

Anna Mathis is a freelance writer on several health topics including the control and management of panic and anxiety disorders. She currently writes for EndingPanicAttacks.com. Read more articles about the factors that impact panic attack relief.

Author: Anna Mathis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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