Agoraphobia and It’s Relationship to Panic Attacks

Agoraphobia and It’s Relationship to Panic Attacks

With 5% of the American population suffering from panic attacks one out of three of those sufferers will develop agoraphobia. This disorder is essentially the fear of open spaces, public places, and/or crowded places.

Many times the sufferer will become so worried about the potential of having a panic attack at a place or time that would be intolerable that he decides staying home is a safer option. This can result in a person becoming a virtual prisoner in his own home.

Stress or high anxiety is thought to be the cause of panic attacks. These attacks occur without warning and cause the sufferer to feel intense fear and a sense of dread. Outward reactions to this internal stimulus vary.

Some people seem to ‘lose it’ and others are better at masking the emotional turmoil they are experiencing. But most have extreme feelings of wanting to escape, and some complain that they fear they are dying or going crazy.

Obviously it would be difficult to manage such emotions and keep a calm demeanor. These sufferers become terrified that they will suffer an attack and behave inappropriately at the worst time.

That is how the cycle begins; a fear (related to the panic attack itself), the body responds, eventually the person is able to determine which places or situations seem to provoke the anxiety attacks, so will tend to avoid such situations.

For some sufferers this can mean eliminating most things from their life that cannot be done within the confines of their home. Sadly some people will remain almost completely housebound for years before discovering that there are techniques available that can relieve this disorder. Click on any link in this blog for more information.

Panic Attacks: An Internal War

Have you ever been driving down the road having a great day - maybe even singing along with the radio when out of nowhere you feel an intense sense of panic - it hits you hard..like a ton of bricks you are consumed by this impending sense of doom. You have no idea why you're feeling this way you just know that you are.

I never knew when this was going to happen – that was the really scary part…I think if I could have been prepared for the attacks it wouldn’t have been so bad. Then I could’ve made certain provisions for it – LIKE HIDING IN BED UNDER A BALNKET – until it was over!

Okay, if you’ve had a panic attack you can relate to that and if you haven’t, well you may never understand what it’s really like to be out shopping and suddenly – for no apparent reason you feel an intense fear. You scout around your surroundings and cannot find any validation for this feeling but you cannot pretend it’s not there.

As the tension mounts you feel your throat start to close and breathing becomes difficult. You can feel your heart racing. You know you need to get out of there – NOW – but you also know you’re being ridiculous, but guess what, your fear wins out – who cares if your fears are unfounded – you know what you feel!

So you hurriedly leave the store with your companion wondering what the hell is going on. Your only thought is to get out – get out to safety. And within minutes the worst of the feelings are gone and you begin to slowly feel better.

What just happened????

Well to begin with, you experienced a feeling of fear or anxiety (side note here: panic attacks are thought to be caused by excessive anxiety). Your body responded like it’s supposed to.

Remember the “Fight or Flight Response”? That’s what’s happening to your body during an attack. You sense fear, your brain sends a message to the nervous system. The sub-category of the nervous system – sympathetic nervous system goes to work speeding up your heart rate, which is getting blood to all areas of your body, and compensating in all ways possible.

The other category of the nervous system is the parasympathetic nervous system. This system will work to calm things down again and although it may not happen immediately it will happen. You won’t die from a panic attack.

The reality is that there are chemicals shooting through your body during a panic attack. All of which are working to do what they can to help the body in the way they are designed to help. In the end the parasympathetic nervous system will get things under control and the panic attack will end. Things will get better!

For more information click on any of the links in this blog.