What is a Panic Attack?

A panic attack is a sudden and intense surge of fear and panic.  The feelings tend to come on and increase very quickly, peak within 5-8m minutes and then dissipate after a few more minutes. Some people say it feels like a heart attack.

What are the Symptoms?
A full blown panic attack includes a combination, but not necessarily all of the following symptoms:
  • Shortness of breath or hyperventilation
  • Heart palpitations, racing heart or accelerated heart rate
  • Sweating
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Shortness of breath or a smothering sensation
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Feeling of choking
  • Feeling unreal or detached from your surroundings or feelings on unreality
  • Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint
  • Numbness or tingling sensations
  • Chills or hot flushes
  • Fear of dying, losing control, or going crazy

How to Cope
Knowing that what you are experiencing has a name, that it will not kill you and that it will pass helps.  
An exercise than can help while you are experiencing a flooding of this type is to focus on:
  • 5 things you can see- look around you, what do you see, focus on the details, if it is a door you are looking at, what material is it made of, what colour is it....etc.
  • 5 things you can hear- listen to your surroundings, what can you hear? voices in the hall? people on a call? traffic outside?....you get the idea
  • 5 things your can feel- concentrate on how your clothes feel on your body, the feel of the chair underneath you, touch the chair you are sitting on.....
Doing this exercise puts you back into your body, and helps to center you again. 

For more information on Panic Attcks and Panic Disorder go: to http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/panic-attacks-and-panic-disorders.htm
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