Panic Attacks Disorder

What are Panic Attacks and Can They Be Related to Depression?

Let’s start by taking a look at what panic attacks actually are.

Panic attacks are very scary when they occur and many people actually think they are having a heart attack or some other serious problem.  Panic attacks can occur out of the blue, sometimes related to one specific situation and sometimes just generally.

When we are faced with a scary situation we panic, and that is a completely normal body response.  However, panic attacks happen when there is no scary situation but the body reacts in panic anyway when it shouldn’t be.

Some symptoms that you might experience during a panic attack are:

• chest pain
• fast heart beat
• difficulty breathing
• sweating
• shaking
• intense feeling of dread or fear
• upset stomach
• dry mouth

These symptoms can hit quite suddenly and can be quite scary, especially the first time that it happens.  If there is one particular situation that a person is very fearful or stressed over, such as talking in public, then this is when a panic attack might happen.  In many cases though panic attacks can just happen out of the blue for no particular reason and once you experience on attack, the fear of it happening again is enough to cause future attacks.

When a person starts experiencing regular panic attacks it is then that they are suffering from panic disorder.

Are Panic Attacks Related To Depression?

Although panic attacks are something completely different from depression, it is not uncommon for depression sufferers to develop a panic disorder.  Being in a constant state of depression puts the mind and body in a negative frame and it is when the mind and body are in this state that panic attacks can begin to occur.

Many panic attack sufferers will in fact have a history of depression, anxiety or a lot of stress.  The body deals with these conditions in different ways and for some people panic attacks are a result.

That is not to say that everyone that has depression will go on to develop a panic disorder but it is not uncommon for someone to have both disorders.

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