Panic Disorder Overview - Trying to Avoid More Panic Attacks

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

Trying to Avoid More Panic Attacks

Once a panic disorder sufferer's first attack begins to ebb, he or she may be tempted to believe it was a fluke. The EKG showed nothing untoward; the emergency room doctor said to go home and get some rest, that he or she was probably only overtired. The jagged emotions seem like a dim memory until the next time.

When another attack does come, the panic disorder sufferer naturally begins to search for a cause. Often, he or she will begin to avoid situations or places where episodes have occurred. He or she may stop going to the ballpark, or avoid driving or riding elevators, since these activities seem to be triggers. The sufferer may even become reclusive, reasoning that it's better to suffer alone than to endure the attacks in the open where there's no escape from the fear and humiliation and little chance of help. This paring away of accustomed patterns is called phobic avoidance. It may help temporarily with the fear of the attack and its accompanying loss of control, but it makes a normal home and work life nearly impossible. It steals the savor from life. And it doesn't keep the attacks from happening.

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Untreated panic disorder can produce other side effects. Fear of the fear the attacks bring, or anticipatory anxiety, can be one unfortunate outgrowth. The sufferer never knows when another attack will come, and is always steeled for it. Studies have shown that agoraphobia, literally "fear of the marketplace," is often coupled with panic disorder. It can drive those with panic disorder to skirt public places, though paradoxically they fear being alone. This pattern may progress to the point that the panic disorder victim fears leaving his or her home without a trusted companion, or fears leaving home, period. Obviously this is wearing to the sufferer's family and friends. Those who must leave the house for the office can also suffer front a sort of agoraphobia which leaves them shackled to their route between home and office, unable to deviate from their workaday pattern.

Confined to such a limited lifestyle which puts so much strain on relations with friends and family, panic disorder sufferers also more easily become prey to depression and its complications than does the average person. Recent studies have suggested also that two out of three people with panic disorder also experience depression over their lifetime. Also, panic disorder sufferers often further complicate their illness with drug and alcohol abuse. This form of "self medication" is sadly ironic: researchers believe that drugs or alcohol themselves pull down mood and worsen anxiety, condemning the victim of panic disorder to a downward spiral of anxiety, depression, and more panic.

"But the thing that made me so frightened, I think, was just not knowing what was wrong with me." (Panic Disorder Sufferer)

What's Behind the Panic Attack

Psychiatric research into the causes of panic disorder has been on the rise in recent years. Surveys have shown that more women than men are afflicted with panic disorder by a ratio of approximately two to one--and that panic disorder knows no racial, economic, or geographic boundaries. Because its victims often hide their illness and because healthcare professionals often do not diagnose it, it is difficult to gauge how widespread panic disorder is in the general population. In a recent study by the National Institute of Mental Health, 10 percent of those interviewed reported having had spontaneous panic attacks. The best recent estimate of those with panic disorder places the number of Americans suffering with panic disorder or phobias at 13 million. Apart front the very real suffering the disorder inflicts, the illness costs billions of dollars per year in the U.S., figured in terms of health care expenses, disability benefits, and lost wages. And as the disorder is more widely recognized and researched, those numbers may well climb.

While many studies have examined the emotional components of panic disorder, more recent studies have shown that panic disorder's roots are physical as well as psychological. Researchers have found that panic disorder runs in families, a fact which supports the idea that the condition may pass genetically from generation to generation. To explore this possibility, scientists are pursuing several promising lines of biological study, looking into the brain for clues to the causes of panic disorder. Scientists are studying the brain's chemistry to find out if panic comes from a problem with that organ's complex chemical communications system, the neurotransmitters. Other groups are examining the brain's structure to see if a problem there might cause information from the senses to short-circuit, triggering the panic reflex. Still another group is looking into the effect on the brain of various chemical compounds, such as sodium lactate and carbon dioxide.

Many people who do not have panic disorder may have an occasional panic attack during periods of severe stress. But those with panic disorder have the attacks even after the stressful conditions have gone. The disorder typically begins when its victims are in their twenties. Often a serious event-such as the death of a parent or divorce will kick off the first attack.

"I went to [my family] doctor and he did a number of tests. He thought at first I had multiple sclerosis, but he ruled that out, finally, and said he wasn't sure what I had. So he sent me to a neurologist. The neurologist also did a number of tests and finally gave me a diagnosis of "non-specific idiopathic neuropathy." I asked him what that was and he didn't give me much of an explanation. He just said that maybe I should see a psychiatrist." (Panic Disorder Sufferer)

continue: Treatment for Panic Disorder