Anxiety Self Help

Anxiety panic attacks can be sudden and seem to come without any warning. Often they are very intense and terrifying. In many attacks sufferers report that they experienced a sense of dying.

Symptoms of an attack also include a rapid pounding heartbeat, shortness of breath, chest pains and obsessive thoughts of embarrassment, fear and worry. Many sufferers dread that something bad is going to happen during an attack.

People who suffer from panic disorder and agoraphobia are more likely to suffer from a panic attack. Although many sufferers of agoraphobia can go about their daily lives, there are some who have great diffculty in dealing with everyday life.

Sufferers have a fear of something embarrassing happening in an environment where they can’t easily escape. The fear of being seen to have a panic attack is enough to put them off from certain situations.

It can be difficult to understand why attacks occur however they are usually the body’s own stress response system being activated. Back thousands of years ago when humans were hunting and gathering, this response system was man’s most powerful weapon.

The fight or flight response triggers increase in heart rate and blood pressure, a boost in adrenaline and energy. The hunter would be ready to either run or fight his attacker. Thousands of years on and our brain chemistry have remained relatively unchanged.

The stress response has been blamed as a cause for many mental illnesses, but it does still play an important role in life. In modern day society, the stress response is triggered too frequently and unnecessarily triggered.

In a dangerous situation where you need to react quickly, the stress response is needed. The negative is that excessive production of hormones such as adrenaline can be damaging for the mind and body. This may lead to anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders such as agoraphobia make life difficult to manage. Luckily there are treatments available for anxiety disorders. Moreover, therapies like hypnosis and CBT are effective at treating anxiety and depression.