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How to Spot a Panic Attack
Every year in the United States, about one in 10 people experience a panic attack. Often, it’s related to a mental health condition, like anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or bipolar disorder. For up to 3% of Americans with a form of anxiety known as panic disorder, panic attacks are a frequent occurrence.
Fortunately, panic attacks and their associated conditions are treatable, and psychiatric specialist Wendy Ann Reiss, MSN, PMHNP-BC, is here to help. Read on as our team reviews the warning signs of a panic attack and explains what to do if it happens to you.
Understanding panic attacks
A panic attack is a brief bout of intense anxiety, alarm, or dread that materializes quickly and without warning.
These episodes aren’t medically dangerous or life-threatening, but the physical and emotional symptoms they produce can leave you feeling paralyzed with fear.
A panic attack can strike at any time. When one does, it tends to come on quickly and with no warning. In most cases, there’s neither a clear triggering cause nor real imminent danger.
Panic attacks are debilitating both in the moment and, without treatment, in the future.
Why? Because experiencing a panic episode can create so much intense anxiety that it causes even more stress. That is why some people with panic disorder opt to avoid places or situations where panic attacks have happened in the past.
Panic attack warning signs
While panic attack symptoms vary among individuals, a typical episode sparks a myriad of unpleasant sensations. The most common emotional warning signs of a panic attack are:
- Feelings of detachment
- Intense fear and/or anxiety
- Sense of impending doom
Physical symptoms of a panic attack may include any combination of:
- A pounding heartbeat
- Chest pain or tightness
- Shortness of breath
- Trembling or weakness
- Hot flashes, chills, or sweating
- Abdominal cramping or nausea
- Lightheadedness or headache
Whether it comes on as a sudden, overwhelming sense of doom that makes your heart pound and leaves your chest feeling tight or it triggers an irrationally intense fear that makes you feel detached from the world around you, most panic attacks last between five and 20 minutes.
Symptoms peak within the first few minutes of a panic attack episode, then they begin to fade. It’s normal to feel tired and depleted in the aftermath of a panic attack.
After a suspected panic attack
A panic attack can make you feel as if you’ve lost control — or even like you may be having a heart attack. Once it subsides and you start feeling better, seeking medical care is important for two reasons.
First, panic attack symptoms can closely mimic symptoms of serious health conditions, including a heart attack. Seeking expert evaluation after a suspected panic attack can help rule out other potential concerns to ensure you get the best care for your needs.
Second, while a panic attack doesn’t pose a severe threat to your physical health, it can indicate an underlying mental health condition that could benefit from treatment.
At Wendy Ann Reiss, MSN, PMHNP-BC, we take a holistic approach to panic attacks that involves teaching you coping strategies to help manage symptoms in the moment, along with targeted care for excessive stress and any other associated mental health conditions.
If you have panic disorder, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be a highly effective treatment approach. In more severe cases, we may also prescribe medication to help alleviate panic attack symptoms.
Think you may have had a panic attack? We can help. Call or click online to schedule a visit in our Bloomsbury, New Jersey, office today.