Panic Attacks are experienced as a tremeandously disturbing feeling
of going out of control. Anxiety can escalate to a degree where you
might feel that you are going to have a heart attack or simply go
out of your mind. The so called flight or fight response is
triggered in a situation where it is simply not called for. When the
body is primed for some sort of intense burst of physical activity
to avoid danger that doesn't actually happen the result is that carbon
dioxide levels in the lungs then blood drop because you are hyperventilating
and this can lead to sensations of tingling numbness, burning and
lightheadedness. The adrenaline causes a feeling of lightheadedness
or dizziness due to its effect on the blood vessels. Whether long
or short the attack can be extremely unpleasant.
What's happening then? Somehow you are triggering a response that's
about an actual physical threat when there is none there. There is
generally a background of anxiety around some issue or situation or
relationship in a person's life (perhaps a number of these) where
the anxiety is not getting resolved, perhaps not even acknowledged.
Then there is a reaction against that anxiety when it surfaces as
it must do. The ongoing unresolved anxiety might be affecting you
at work. When you find yourself experiencing this free floating anxiety
you might be concerned by a tight feeling in your chest. As far as
you are concerned it has got no right to be there, so there is an
immediate rejection of the feeling itself which simply brings your
awareness on to it even more strongly so you push it away more strongly
and get pulled into it more strongly all the while feeling a very
distressing increase in the tightness in your chest until it feels
that something is wrong that you are having some sort of attack. The
reaction against the anxious feeling and the feeling in your chest
are what turn the ignition on for this spiralling process that can
take you right into panic state.
