It was a Thursday afternoon and Luis was leaving the university heading home.as usual. He walked determinedly and everything seemed normal, but suddenly he began to notice strange sensations that he had never felt before. Distress, tremors throughout the body, tachycardia, extreme anxiety and a totally irrational thought “I’m going to die!”
Luis tried to calm down but anxiety, thinking and irrational fear took over him.it was impossible for him to calm down, he believed that what was going through his mind was about to happen, and in an almost instinctive act he began to run everywhere trying to find some kind of help.
The people who were in that place watched Luis astonished.trying to figure out what could be happening to the young man, why he was running aimlessly. Those who got closest to Luis could hear a desperate cry: “I don’t want to die!”
When more than ten minutes had passed since the mishap, Luis felt how his anxiety was decreasing, he felt how his heartbeat was regulating and how his ideas and thoughts were becoming clearer. Exhausted after that bad drink, he sat confused in a park, in full view of many people who mockingly commented “he’s a poor crazy man.” Fearful and confused, Luis returned to his house without any logical answer as to what could have happened to him.
That night marked a before and after in his life for Luis.. Luis did not understand what could have happened to him, but he saw how these events were repeated regularly to the point of preventing him from carrying out his daily tasks, including his studies or having a family life like he had before that night. He was afraid of being alone and expressing what was happening to him before those distressing states became present. Luis feared that his friends and family would take him for crazy, and for that reason he had maintained silence about his suffering.
He decided to confide in a very close friend about the situation he was experiencing.and he recommended that he go to a specialist doctor to evaluate the case. The next day, Luis decided to go to the doctor, but the doctor found nothing abnormal in him. He was referred to a mental health professional, who after several sessions, diagnosed that Luis was suffering from panic attacks.
This little story that we have just told is more common than we can imagine. Many people suffer from this anxiety disorder and live it alone, without help from family, friends, or professional help. An increase in cases of panic attacks has been reported in young people between 15 and 25 years of age, with women being the main affected.
What is a panic attack
A panic attack is a crisis where the person experiences high levels of anguish and anxiety with intense frightening thoughts that something serious can happen.
As Shirley Trickett (2009) indicates in her book “How to Overcome Panic Attacks,” panic attacks are defined as “an aggravated response to an irrational fear.”
At the moment The origin of this anxiety disorder is not known with certainty.although there are some studies suggesting that certain genetic characteristics play an important role in the development of these attacks. Such research does not enjoy unanimity among the scientific community, as there are voices that warn of other factors as precursors to crises.
Symptoms
According to Trickett (2009), these are some of the Symptoms that a person presents when they suffer a panic attack:
Panic attacks cannot be predicted because there is no time, date, or place in which they can manifest, resulting in a change in the social, work, and family life of the person who suffers them given their spontaneous nature.
Many people, just by remembering an attack they have experienced in the past, can become suggestive to the point of developing another anxiety attack. Others live day to day with excessive worry about suffering an attack at any moment, bringing permanent psychological and emotional suffering into their lives. And there are also people who, fortunately, do not give excessive importance to these episodes and lead completely normal lives.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis must be made by professionals, both in medical and psychological specialties, ruling out any somatic abnormality that may result in an anxiety disorder (total medical review), or that there is some type of medication or psychotropic substance that the person consumes and that trigger a panic attack.
Once the medical process is completed and all previous causes have been ruled out, it will be the responsibility of the mental health professional to evaluate the person and warn if it meets the indicators to diagnose the case as a panic attack.
Treatment
There are two types of treatment for anxiety attacks, and both can be combined:
a) Pharmacological: treatment with anxiolytics and antidepressants, obviously under medical prescription. Only a psychiatrist is authorized to prescribe what type of medications and for what period the dose of the drug will be administered.
b) Psychotherapy: Regarding psychological therapy, some schools such as cognitive-behavioral therapy have reported great effectiveness in this type of case. The psychologist will be able to provide an intervention plan with the patient where different ways to confront a panic crisis and confront any situation feared by the patient with tools and resources to minimize anxiety are suggested.
To obtain better results, a combination of the two treatments is ideal and most recommended. Some professionals recommend other types of techniques that can complement the treatment, although they fall outside the scientific field, they can be considered if the patient finds pleasure in practicing them such as yoga, meditation, etc.
The emotional support that can be provided to a person who is going through this type of case will always be important. As Sigmund Freud said: “Modern science has not produced a calming medicine as effective as kind words.”
