Anxious thoughts often lead to more serious panic attack symptoms. These psychical symptoms feed back to the mind, creating another wave of anxiety attacks greater than the previous. This vicious cycle repeats over and over.
Panic is defined as “a sudden fear which dominates or replaces thinking”. There is such a thing as reasonable panic, which is a panic based on logical reason. This is a natural instinct of every individual on earth, and is not anywhere near panic attack disorder.
Perhaps you are walking through the woods on a nice warm spring day, and hear something behind you, it’s a large bear charging at full speed, you panic, try to run away, climb a tree, dive into a lake, scream, you get the picture. I would say this is panic based on reality, even if it is not the most intelligent thing ever, it seems reasonable.
Another situation could be that unexpected phone call in the middle of the night, awakened from a deep sleep, you feel as if you can’t breathe, your heart is beating out of your chest, feeling that voice on the other end is there to give you devastating news. This might not be as good of a reason to panic as the bear but those horrendous midnight phone calls are possible.
A panic attack might be defined as “a sudden ‘unreasonable’ fear which dominates or replaces thinking”. If you are at a fancy restaurant, eating a wonderful meal and all of a sudden the thought occurs that something is wrong with the food. The place is packed, as usual with everyone else seeming to be OK, except yourself.
The symptoms come on, perspiring, cold chills, shaking. Now all you can think of is that you will not panic, because there’s not one reason. But the panic is already there and all you can feel right now. The harder you try not to panic, the more you panic.
There may be physical or chemical causes for some of this, who cares? Our brains function in very strange ways. How many times have you been told, “It’s all in your head”? Well, it could be, except just knowing it doesn’t change it. Don’t forget, it’s called “unreasonable” fear; you cannot simply talk yourself out of it. Realize there is an answer, and give yourself permission to seek it.
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