Panic Attack Relief

Regular Anxiety Vs. Panic Attacks

Chronic anxiety is a low intensity condition characterized by stress experienced over many days, weeks and even months. In contrast a panic attack is a case of acute and usually intense anxiety that manifests in a very short amount of time, often within minutes. The American Psychological Association (APA) describes the length of the panic attack as somewhere around thirty minutes.

Psychological and Physical Symptoms

The feeling is so intense that it often induces physical discomfort to the point that sufferers have been known to call in for emergency medical services (e.g. ambulances) because they believed they were experiencing a heart attack. Often there is also an accompanying fear or sense of dying, nausea, and loss of feeling in the whole body. Breathing may border on hyperventilation.

Lack of Immediate Anxiety Attack Relief

There is no immediate panic attack relief for the acute effects. For example, people who suffer from heart attacks can take nitroglycerin that dilates blood vessels which reduces the negative impact of the heart attack. However, no medication is approved for immediately stopping a panic attack. Part of this is due to a lack of fundamental understanding of the origin of panic attacks. Therefore, panic attack relief or anxiet attack relief must be sought prior to or posterior to the attack itself and in a preventative fashion.

Origins of the Condition

In preventative medication, the evidence with respect to traditional psychiatric for reducing the intensity or frequency of anxiety attacks is mixed. However, psychiatrists do continue to prescribe to patients selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and benzodiazepines for long-term treatment of panic attack. The remaining panic attack relief option is through psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that involves practiced and conscious alteration of thought processes to rewire the brain to control panic attacks. Often CBT is used in conjunction with psychoactive drugs to achieve a fuller response.

Psychotherapy

The treatment program for anxiety attack relief might begin with the therapist asking the subject to take note of his or her mental state during the anxiety attack. This includes recording the trigger thoughts that preceded the attack, the stream of thoughts that escalated into the attack, and the negative feelings associated with the actual attack. Although an objective assessment is expected to be difficult during the attack, the patient may be surprised at what can be accomplished with some preparatory steps.

Triggers

The second step might involve the therapist talking through with the patient about these anxiety triggers. Part of the therapy could involve avoiding such triggers in the first place, and another part may involve objectively reasoning through such triggers. Such reasoning can be done calmly if practiced such that it becomes a meditative, repetitive and rote action.

Combining Medication and Psychotherapy

Finally the therapist may ask the patient to now transform the negativity into positivity by thinking about positive thoughts. Rather than just averting another anxiety attack, the subject is asked to create a positive conduit of thoughts that is completely dissociated from the negative triggers. The therapist may also ask the patient to discuss this condition in an objective, clinical manner, and educate the patient about this condition. Knowing that he or she is not alone in seeking anxiety attack relief can be of great help. The experience of many patients is that selecting a compatible psychiatrist is important in making this therapeutic relationship work. The efficacy of CBT is difficult to quantify if panic attacks are intermittent (and therefore patients cannot assess whether therapy is successful quickly). Having a good relationship with the psychiatrist only makes it easier to carry out the therapy for panic attack relief.