Panic Attacks
(Panic Disorder)

Revising Medical Author: Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD
Revising Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD

• What are the symptoms of a panic attack?
• What are panic attacks?
• Are panic attacks serious?
• What causes panic attacks?
• What is the treatment for panic attacks?
• What happens if panic attacks are not treated?
• Panic Attack At A Glance
• Patient Discussions: Panic Attacks - Effective Treatments

"All of a sudden, I felt a tremendous wave of fear for no reason at all. My heart was pounding, my chest hurt, and it was getting harder to breathe. I thought I was going to die."

"I'm so afraid. Every time I start to go out, I get that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and I'm terrified that another panic attack is coming or that some other, unknown terrible thing was going to happen."

What are the symptoms of a panic attack?

As described above, the symptoms of a panic attack appear suddenly, without any apparent cause. They may include

• racing or pounding heartbeat (palpitations);
• chest pains;
• stomach upset;
• dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea;
• difficulty breathing, a sense of feeling smothered;
• tingling or numbness in the hands;
• hot flashes or chills;
• dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions;
• terror: a sense that something unimaginably horrible is about to occur and one is powerless to prevent it;
• a need to escape;
• fear of losing control and doing something embarrassing; and
• fear of dying.

A panic attack typically lasts for several minutes, is one of the most distressing conditions that a person can experience, and its symptoms can closely mimic those of a heart attack. Typically, most people who have one attack will have others, and when someone has repeated attacks with no other apparent physical or emotional cause, or feels severe anxiety about having another attack, he or she is said to have panic disorder. A number of other emotional problems can have panic attacks as a symptom. Some of these illnesses include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, and intoxication or withdrawal from certain drugs of abuse .

Anxiety attacks that take place while sleeping, also called nocturnal panic attacks, occur less often than do panic attacks during the daytime, but affect about 40%-70% of those who suffer from daytime panic attacks. Nocturnal panic attacks tend to cause sufferers to wake suddenly from sleep in a state of sudden anxiety for no apparent reason and can have all the other symptoms of a panic attack. The duration of nocturnal panic attacks tends to be less than 10 minutes, but it can take much longer to fully calm down for those who experience them.

What are panic attacks?

Panic attacks may be symptoms of an anxiety disorder. These attacks are a serious health problem in the U.S. At least 1.7% of adult Americans, or about 3 million people, will have panic attacks at some time in their lives, with the peak age at which people have their first panic attack (onset) being 15 to 19 years. Another fact about panic is that this symptom is strikingly different from other types of anxiety; panic attacks are so very sudden and often unexpected, appear to be unprovoked, and are often disabling.

Once someone has had a panic attack, for example, while driving, shopping in a crowded store, or riding in an elevator, he or she may develop irrational fears, called phobias, about these situations and begin to avoid them. Eventually, the pattern of avoidance and level of anxiety about another attack may reach the point where the mere idea of doing things that preceded the first panic attack triggers future panic attacks, resulting in the individual with panic disorder being unable to drive or even step out of the house. At this stage, the person is said to have panic disorder with agoraphobia. Thus, there are two types of panic disorder: panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Like other major illnesses, panic disorder can have a serious impact on a person's daily life unless the individual receives effective treatment.

Panic attacks in children may result in the child's grades declining, avoiding school and other separations from parents, as well as substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, plans, and/or actions.

Next: Are panic attacks serious? »

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