Panic Disorder

Panic disorder sufferers experience episodes of acute anxiety lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. Panic disorder is characterized by reoccurring attacks of extreme fear and the urge to flee the situation. People with Panic Disorder often experience anticipatory anxiety, fearing that an attack may come at any time, even in public. For this reason, Panic sufferers are also at high risk for developing agoraphobia; the fear of being in a situation from which they cannot escape or where there will be no help in the event of an attack.

Symptoms:

• Shortness of breath
• Perfuse sweating
• Dizziness
• Irregular heartbeat
• Hyperventilation
• A feeling that you may faint

Symptoms occur spontaneously and vary in duration from several minutes to over an hour. Most people with Panic disorder have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that this is a mental condition since their symptoms are mostly physical. Since these symptoms could also be signs of a heart attack it is important to be evaluated by a medical professional immediately should you experience these symptoms.

Causes:

There seems to be a genetic link to Panic disorder. A person's identical twin is more likely to share Panic disorder with them than their fraternal twin. In the lab scientist can invoke panic attacks in panic prone subjects by a variety of conditions that activate the autonomic nervous system, such as ingesting caffeine and increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the room. Outside the lab, panic attacks may be triggered by any number of factors. It's their random and acute nature that can be so frustrating to sufferers.