Anxiety and panic attacks

What is anxiety?

Anxiety and fear are normal human emotions and are often found as reactions to stress.

Normal anxiety is what we feel when we have to deal with problems such as having relationship difficulties, taking exams etc. The anxiety can stay with us until the problem is sorted out.

Anxiety becomes abnormal when the symptoms become so intense that they stop us coping with everyday life.

Phobias

A phobia is an irrational and uncontrollable fear of a particular situation (e.g. social events) or thing (e.g. spiders) that is not necessarily dangerous and isn't a problem for most people.

Panic attacks

Panic attacks are an exaggeration of the body's normal response to fear, stress or excitement. During a panic attack people feel overwhelmingly anxious, terrified of losing control and may feel they are going mad or dying.

If you are prone to anxiety and are easily stressed, you are more likely to be vulnerable to panic attacks and phobias.

NB.   The terms anxiety and stress are often used interchangeably but the word "stress" can be used to mean two different things:

  1. The things that make us anxious and
  2. Our reaction to them.

Recognising anxiety

When we get anxious, both our body and our mind show symptoms of stress.

In the mind:

In the body:

Anxious people often mistake these symptoms for serious physical illness. Worrying about this can make the symptoms even worse.

Sudden unexpected surges of anxiety are called panic and usually lead to the person quickly getting out of whatever situation they are in. Anxiety and panic are often accompanied by feelings of depression, when we feel miserable and see the future as bleak and hopeless.

A person with a phobia has intense symptoms of anxiety, but they only get them in the particular situations that frighten them. People with phobias usually try to avoid the particular situation that causes their anxiety but, in the long run, this will only make it worse.

What causes anxiety?

The fight or flight response

To understand what causes anxiety, imagine you are about to be attacked. As soon as you are aware of the threat certain changes occur in your body:

All this, and more, occurs as a result of hormones produced by the body, one of the main ones being adrenaline. This automatic reaction to a threatening situation is called the 'fight or flight response', because it gets us ready to fight with or run from the enemy.

Once the danger is past, everything goes back to normal.

Coping with anxiety

Some anxiety is easier to cope with such as taking a driving test, because we know the test won't last forever and the symptoms we are experiencing will go away when it is over.

Non specific generalised anxiety can be harder to deal with because it has no one particular cause.

The following can be helpful in coping with anxiety.

Talking

Talking to someone about your feelings, especially if they are related to some traumatic life event.

Talk to someone you trust like a close friend or family member.

Self-Help

Self-help groups for people who have similar problems as you can be useful. They will understand what you are going through and may suggest helpful ways of coping.

Relaxation

Learn how to relax. Relaxation skills can help to relieve the tension of mind and body. Try going for a walk, meditating or playing football with a friend.

Psychotherapy - CBT

Psychotherapy, such as a talking treatment like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help with anxiety. This is because one of the causes of anxiety can be "faulty" thinking patterns e.g. worrying that you will get the symptoms of anxiety in certain situations e.g. socialising, can produce the feared response.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy will teach techniques to challenge these automatic negative thoughts and thus reduce the anxious feelings they produce. Your GP should be able to refer you to a psychotherapist, or you can look for one through various websites eg: www.sussex-counselling.co.uk lists therapists within the Sussex area.   The "Approaches" and "Choosing a therapist" sections give helpful  advice on finding the best person for you to work with, and explains the different forms of psychotherapy available.

Medication

Sometimes doctors will prescribe anti-depressants to relieve the anxiety and depression that often accompanies it. These are not addictive but can take up to 4 weeks to work.  It's very important to follow your GP's advice going on and coming off anti-depressants.  Never just stop taking your medication, it must be supervised by a doctor to ensure there are no extreme side-effects. 

Anti-depressants and talking therapies

Anti-depressants are helpful to get you through a certain difficult period, but they don't make your problems go away.  Anti-depressents work best when used in conjunction with talking therapies (psychotherapy).  The drugs will keep you balanced while the talking therapy helps you to overcome, resolve or learn to live with the issue causing your distress.

Tranquillisers

Sometimes valium-type drugs, known as benzodiazepines or tranquillisers are prescribed.  These should only be used for a short period, perhaps to help in a crisis, because in the long term they can create dependency.