Exploring Panic Disorder
Everyone has experienced moments of severe anxiety and panic in their lives. Stressful situations can throw our minds into turmoil, causing extreme negative impacts on our bodies. However, there are people who suffer from moments like these far more often than the average person. These people also experience panic in situations that would not seem very stressful to others. This type of recurrent, extreme panic episode is called panic disorder, and it falls under anxiety disorders, a broader category of mental health issues.
An article by McGrandles and Duffy (2012) describes characteristics of panic disorder as including “recurrent panic attacks that occur suddenly and without warning. These can cause persistent
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People with agoraphobia typically avoid places and situations that they perceive to be dangerous, such as large crowds or enclosed spaces, for fear that it might trigger a panic attack. There are certain people who are more at risk for developing an anxiety disorder such as panic disorder. McGrandles and Duffy (2012) state that “risk factors include internalizing problems and a more inhibited temperament” and “adults with anxiety often report childhood experiences of anxiety” (p. 5). Panic disorder is a powerful and debilitating psychological issue. We will discuss the diagnoses and treatment of this disorder …show more content…
This should be the first action taken to attempt to control and treat the disorder. However, in more severe cases, this simple technique is not enough. Psychological therapy involved in treating panic disorder focuses on helping the patient modify behaviors and responses to situations that will ultimately reduce feelings of panic. These types of treatment can involve many sessions with a mental health professional in order to be successful. For example, McGrandles and Duffy (2012) state “there is a large body of research supporting the use of cognitive behavioral therapy across the spectrum of anxiety disorders” and “psychological interventions such as CBT tend to be considered safer than drug treatments” (p. 5). In the event that psychotherapy is not single-handedly successful, pharmacological therapy can come into play. Certain medications can be taken by the patient to help reduce the severity and frequency of panic attacks. “At present there are several different types of drugs which could be prescribed for the treatment of anxiety such as anti-depressants, benzodiazepines and beta blockers” (McGrandles & Duffy, p. 6). In the event that medication therapy is used, psychological therapy should also continue to be used in conjunction. The patient and doctor must work together in order to determine the best
Hello, Michelle, while reading chapter 14, I thought that all the disorders where very interesting as well. I agree with you on how symptoms like racing heart, dizziness, breathing difficulties, sense of fear etc. are all a part of a panic disorder. For the most part I also agree that the book was somewhat consistent with the symptoms of a panic disorder because both sources stated that panic disorders are one of four principal anxiety disorders. Both sources also stated panic disorders are characterized by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that occur suddenly & unexpectedly and due to the severity of some people’s panic disorder several attack victims may develop agoraphobia. Overall I agree with your statement Michelle except when
Major life stress, such as the death of a loved one, may trigger a panic attack and possibly turn into panic disorder
Panic disorder is a recurrent experience of unexpected panic attacks, also defined as extreme fear or discomfort with abruptly and reaches a peak within 10 minutes. And, symptoms include dizziness, lightheadedness, sweating, heart rate accelerating and fear of going crazy and dying, (Psy 101). Therefore, the definition of a panic disorder by: The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, A panic disorder is a psychological state characterized by acute (rapid onset) feelings, which engulf a person with a deep sense of destruction, death and imminent doom. Yet, experience of a recurrent panic attack can sometimes be an unfamiliar situation or a different specific, nature, environmental that in which can triggers the episode. However, Post Traumatic
Panic Disorder is an anxiety disorder that occurs following the experience or witnessing of a traumatic event. Panic disorder occurs in 90 percent of the population, this amount of percentage is what psychologist are facing every day. Panic disorder is a serious condition that strikes after a serious event have occur without warning exactly the time it will happen in the patient. Symptoms of panic disorder include sudden attacks of fear and nervousness, as well as physical symptoms such as sweating and a racing heart. Most people who struggle with PD want very much to know what causes panic disorder. There are really two questions here, and I will answer them both in this research paper (Wemmie,2016).
Before being recognized as a branch of Anxiety Disorders, Panic Disorders, were perceived as “a generic diagnosis of 'stress ' or 'nerves ' “ (Tracy, 2014). In an abstract through the US National Library of Medicine; National Institutes of Health, contributor Angst J reiterates that Panic Disorders “has not always been recognized as an exclusively psychiatric condition.” (Angst, J., 1998). Also, research in this area continued until 1980 when criteria was established for the overall concept of Panic Disorder itself. This
Abstract: Panic disorder is an abnormal condition which badly affects the social life, working life and family of patients. It is also termed as a mental disease which includes the mood disorders and mostly depression. Females is most susceptible to panic disorders than the male and it is almost double or more than that. The symptoms of panic a disorder mainly includes a disconnected period of severe fear or discomfort, simultaneously the other symptoms are as follows also seen during the attacks and peak within 10 minutes: Palpitation, Tachycardia, Sweating, Tremors, difficulty in breathing, Chest pain ,Nausea or abdominal distress, dizziness, depression, fear of going crazy and fear of death. The factor which causes the panic disorders are as follows: 1. Biological factors A. Neurotransmitters 2. Psychological factors A. Genetic factors B. Sex. C. Physical Conditions. 3. Socio cultural factors: Environmental factors.
Most of the time, the disorder evolves because of stress. This stress could be good stress, such as planning a wedding, or bad stress, such as the death of a loved one (Barlow et al., 1994; Barrera et al., 2013). In order for a person to be diagnosed with panic disorder, the individual must have panic attacks that come suddenly, usually with the person know knowing what triggered it. Sadly, this disorder affect a person in every aspect of their lives, causing distress, impairing them from daily activities, and hindering personal and social functioning (Barlow et al., 1994; Gloster, 2014; Teachman, Marker, & Clerking,
To be diagnosed with a panic disorder there are criterion that must be met; recurrent panic attacks, consistent worry about having another attack, the presence of agoraphobia (the fear of public spaces), and the attacks are not a result of any type of substance or medicine. In order to be considered an agoraphobic, there must be anxiety about being unable to escape in the event of a panic attack, traveling alone is very stressful, and the anxiety is not caused by other disorder such as obsessive compulsive disorder or a specific phobia such as public restrooms. Agoraphobia arises because of the fear of being unable to find help in the event of a panic attack and the embarrassment of having an attack in a public space. (Torterolo & Levin, 2012). The main symptom of panic disorders are the panic attacks that seemingly occur out of nowhere and often resemble a heart attack. Panic attacks can last from an upwards of 30 minutes and often are accompanied by; hyperventilation, tremors, choking, discomfort of the chest, irrational fear of death, tingling in the extremities, and a high pulse. (“Mood Disorders”,
Panic disorder can be debilitating for an individual. It interferes with every day functioning at work or school and causes its sufferers to feel as if they might be going crazy. This paper explores the history of panic disorder, the nature of panic attacks and panic disorder, prognosis, etiology, assessments and treatment options.
The article selected for a review is an original interview-based research article addressing the role of first panic attack in the development of agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is one of the many types of phobias addressed in the broader field of abnormal psychology, besides being an important aspect in patients with panic disorder. In this peer-reviewed journal entry, Hara and colleagues are interested in two things. The first involves classifying patients with panic disorder according to their symptoms and places of first panic attack (FPA) or location of FPA occurrence. The second thing is to compare their clinical features such as agoraphobia frequency, first panic attack symptoms, comorbidity of agoraphobia, and first panic attack severity while
It is estimated that 1% to 5% of people will experience a Panic Disorder at some point in their life (Andrisano, Balzarro, Fabbri, Chiesa & Serretti, 2012). A Panic Disorder is a chronic and severe anxiety disorder that is defined by the presence of frequent panic attacks and persistent worrying about future panic attacks (Andrisano et al., 2012). Panic disorders have been known to cause impairment in both qualities of life and functioning (Andrisano et al., 2012). It is important to treat individuals that have panic disorders because studies have shown that people who suffer from panic disorders generally get worse over time if proper treatment interventions are not established (Andrisano et al., 2012). Treatments have been found to be effective
Panic attacks are the inappropriate activation of the fight or flight response. The person concerned is responding to fear or perceiving a situation as dangerous to them. They occur when there is a build up of stress that the person cannot cope with any longer.
Numerous stresses in everyday life lead people to panic and have panic disorders, which absolutely need treatment. This disorder brings seriousness if left without any treatments. It may worsen to the time when the person might have to step into the attempts to try to avoid that. This attacks anytime with no reason, which means it begins suddenly. Panic disorder was newly founded as psychiatric condition that followed after anxiety disorders. 6 million adults in U.S.A suffers with panic disorder and all countries have at least 2 people out of 10 with panic disorders. Symptoms of panic disorder include difficulty breathing, chest pain, intense feeling of terror and dread, shortness of breath,feeling the sense of choking or smothering, dizziness, headache or feeling faint, trembling and shaking, sweating, nausea or stomachache, tingling or numbness in the fingers and toes, chills or hot flashes, and a fear of losing control. Most important key symptom of the panic disorder is the constant fright of having future panic attacks. The fearness comes from the disorder cause the patients to avoid places and situations where an attack has been happened or they think it may occur. The problem with this enormous amount of people with this disorder is that they do not know if their symptoms are real and not very highly responsive about treatment for themselves. This disorder often show the occurrences of other disorders.
Panic Disorder is anxiety and fear that arise frequently with no cause. There is no
The great array of psychological disorders can be daunting when first cracking open the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition, also known as the DSM V. Fortunate for me, my predilection for learning more about panic disorder made selecting a psychological disorder a rather simple task. Panic disorder is a specific variation of anxiety disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM V. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (2011), panic disorders are fairly common and as many as twenty percent of people who receive primary health care experience an anxiety disorder or depression. The DSM V (2013) refers to panic disorders as recurrent panic attacks, which are a sudden onset of intense fear or discomfort that intensifies to its maximum level within minutes. The duration of each panic attack varies from one episode to the next. Four out of thirteen physical and cognitive symptoms recognized by the American Psychiatric Association occur during an episode in order for it to be officially classified as a panic attack. These physical and cognitive symptoms include: palpitations, pounding heart or accelerated heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking, sensations of shortness of breath or smothering, feelings of choking, chest pain or discomfort, nausea or abdominal