Today, there are a huge number of techniques, hundreds of articles and books have been written to get rid of anxiety disorders, but patients continue to go to all possible doctors, undergo many examinations and look for non-existent symptoms of a deadly disease. Fear thereby increases even more, and it becomes increasingly difficult for a person to convince of the groundlessness of his fears. Ideally, such a person should be immediately sent to a psychotherapist or neuropathologist, but, unfortunately, few therapists are sufficiently knowledgeable in this matter, and continue to conduct examinations and seek answers to countless patients' complaints.
Essence of the disease
The diagnosis of panic disorder is usually made in conjunction with “vegetovascular dystonia”, “vegetative crises” or “symptom-adrenaline crises”. Mostly panic attacks are a symptom of one of these diseases, but they are treated on their own, and vegetovascular dystonia is also diagnosed in most cases by a psychotherapist or neuropathologist. The disease can occur both on its own and immediately turn into a panic disorder. Symptoms of the disease:
- Anxiety, restlessness, restlessness.
- High blood pressure.
- Pain in the chest area, heart palpitations, tachycardia.
- Feeling of suffocation, sensation of a coma in the chest.
- Dizziness, fainting, severe weakness.
- Change in body temperature, chills, fever, sweating, cold sweat.
- Abdominal pain, upset stool, nausea.
- Strong tremor.
- Unpleasant sensations in different parts of the body, tingling, numbness, feeling of cotton legs or hands.
Disease danger
Fear. This is perhaps the most important symptom that necessarily accompanies any panic condition. At the same time, a person loses a sense of reality and adequacy to some extent, at such moments many have a real animal instinct, they can either be dumbfounded and afraid to even move, or scurry around and try to run away, and everything is guilty of a strong fear of dying or going crazy. In the future, the patient at a subconscious level forms a fear of not only the experienced symptoms, but also the place in which they appeared. So there are all kinds of phobias, fear of an enclosed space (it is impossible to get out of there, in case of an attack), fear of heights (one can lose consciousness and fall there), fear of a crowd or open space (a sense of shame if an attack occurs in people). This is the main danger of the disease, a person, experiencing another panic attack, acquires more and more phobias, closes, feels more and more sick and helpless. At the same time, doctors shrug their hands without finding any physical illnesses, and the person, feeling worse and worse, is convinced that he has a rare, incurable and undiagnosed illness. Only with the competent approach of the therapist, the ability to reassure and explain to the patient that nothing mortally dangerous happened to him, and also to instruct him to turn to the psychotherapist, is the healing process possible. In a fairly neglected state, it may be necessary to identify the patient for some time in a regional neuropsychiatric dispensary, but medication is usually enough, most often these are antidepressants in combination with tranquilizers, and one of the treatment methods.
What is really going on
In fact, a panic attack is an uncontrolled emotion that occurs not when the body needs to respond to a real danger, but in situations completely unusual for this. Most often, a person adjusts himself to the development of an attack, as a result of which panic disorders develop. Physical symptoms in this condition are a normal reaction to adrenaline rush.
The fact is that fear is the strongest instinct of self-preservation, therefore, at the time of danger, absolutely all living creatures receive a brain signal: “Fight or run.” A huge amount of adrenaline is thrown to get the necessary strength to fight or run into the blood. Palpitations and breathing become more frequent, blood pressure rises, and imaginary numbness of limbs, cotton legs - in fact, muscle strain, which are prepared for a quick run out of a frightening situation.
Why does this happen
So, we figured out that uncontrolled panic disorders are not a fatal disease, but a normal reaction of the body to danger. The problem is that there is no danger. And attacks occur in completely calm, non-fearful situations: when traveling by public transport, in line at the supermarket, in the elevator or during an important meeting. The first time an anxiety panic disorder starts unexpectedly, but some common “predecessors” can still be tracked. These are stresses, regular lack of sleep, an unbalanced diet, bad habits - in a word, all this can be called the deterioration of the body. Sometimes the disease manifests itself after any serious upheaval: the death of loved ones, divorce, or even a banal move to another country and the process of adaptation in it.
Development, causes, treatment
For a patient who is regularly experiencing panic disorder, the symptoms seem unbearably severe and very frightening, in fact they pose absolutely no danger. It is neither possible to die, nor go crazy, or even faint from them, but it is the incomparability of the body's reaction to external stimuli that scares the person, or rather, their absence.
The development of the disease is influenced by several factors. The main role is assigned to a hereditary predisposition, this does not mean that the disease will certainly make itself felt, but the likelihood of this increases at times. In this case, it will be very advisable to conduct regular preventive measures, as well as a more accurate attitude to your lifestyle.
The second most common probability of experiencing panic disorder (approximately one in five patients) is a change in the central nervous system associated with childhood and adolescent psychological trauma. However, some internal conflicts, open or subconscious, can accompany the patient his whole life. And since children's insults, a sense of insecurity and children's fears cannot be found other way out, they turn into anxious states. To identify and cure childhood and youthful injuries will help various methods of psychotherapy conducted by a specialist.
The last and, perhaps, the main reason for the development of panic attacks are the disturbingly suspicious features of a person's character. In the same stressful circumstances, it is precisely people with similar personality characteristics that acquire nervous system instability and panic disorders as a result.
Disturbing features
- Self-doubt and self-reliance.
- Increased anxiety.
- Excessive attention to their own feelings.
- Emotional instability.
- The need for increased attention from loved ones.
Treatment methods
The problem of identifying and making the correct diagnosis is that the person himself does not turn to the necessary specialist for help. Mostly people prefer to ascribe non-existent fatal diseases to themselves, but they deliberately avoid a therapist. But for a patient with diseases such as vegetovascular dystonia, as well as anxiety and panic disorder, it is this doctor who carries out the treatment.
Today, there are many technologies that can both relieve and completely relieve the patient of attacks, among them: cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychological relaxation, neurolinguistic programming, and many others. It is the doctor who will be able to determine the methods of psychotherapy or pharmacological prescriptions that must be followed in the future. It should be noted that therapy is selected strictly individually, taking into account the course of the disorder, the duration of the disease, the causes of its occurrence, concomitant diseases and the nature of the patient. Sometimes, in order to calm a person’s nervous system, a regional neuropsychiatric clinic may require a definition, after discharge from which, you should also contact a psychotherapist to complete the treatment.
Panic attacks with the right choice of therapy can be completely cured. The reliability of this was confirmed by the results of unique studies conducted in 2010 by specialists from one of the research institutes of psychiatry, psychotherapy and narcology. They consisted in identifying the most effective methods of treatment for certain symptoms of panic attacks. The experiment involved 120 patients with a diagnosis of anxiety disorder, divided into three groups of 40 people each, to whom various methods of psychotherapy were applied:
- The first group received only medications.
- The second group underwent drug treatment in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy.
- The third group, in addition to psychotropic drugs, underwent a course of integrative psychotherapy.
As the results of the study showed, the most effective results were obtained by the group taking medication in combination with one of the types of therapy (about 75% of patients from the second and third groups). While the treatment with pharmacotherapy alone did not bring the proper results. Less than half of the group were able to feel completely healthy people and avoid relapse for a long period of time. Thus, specialists from the Scientific Research Institute of Psychiatry were able to prove the need for both medical treatment and the necessary therapy, which is selected strictly individually for each patient.
Panic Attack and Anxiety Attack Scale
For a more convenient determination of the severity of the disease, a special test was developed. This is a special scale for the severity of a panic disorder, designed so that everyone with the help of simple questions can determine the level of their panic disorder. In accordance with the test results, a person himself, without the help of specialists, will be able to determine the severity of his condition.
Is it possible to defeat the disease yourself
Often, patients try to cope with a panic disorder on their own. Sometimes relatives or even not very competent doctors help them in this, giving advice: "Take yourself together" or "Do not pay attention." Remember that this approach is completely wrong. The faster the patient turns to a specialist for help, the faster he will achieve normalization. The patient can use some techniques on his own, take medicinal herbs to calm the nervous system, or fight, for example, bad habits in order to help himself, but the main treatment must be carried out under the guidance of a professional. Today, the choice of specialists in the treatment of anxiety disorders is huge, it can be a nearby clinic or mental health center, the main thing is to take the first step and start treatment.
Helping yourself with panic attacks
Helping yourself during an attack is quite real, because it all starts with our thoughts. It happens like this: in a frightening situation, a person thinks: “Well, there are so many people (few people, closed / open space ...) now I will feel bad, I’ll fall (die, suffocate, run away, I’ll start a tantrum ... ) and everyone will look at me. ” Something like this, a person accelerates his negative thoughts to catastrophic proportions, and after a while he really begins to feel bad, without even thinking about the fact that he himself provoked an attack. Indeed, from the very beginning, anxiety and fear governed him, and it is from them that one should try to turn his attention.
- Take a break. Start counting people or cars passing by, remember the words of a children's song or your favorite verse. The main thing is to surrender to this occupation in full and concentrate precisely on these thoughts.
- Breath. By learning to control your breathing, you can control the attack. In a relaxed state, human breathing is calm, deep and unhurried. Under stress, it becomes much more frequent, it becomes superficial and fast. When approaching an attack, try to control it, make sure that it remains deep and measured, in which case you will be able to significantly reduce the symptoms of a panic attack, or even completely avoid it.
- Relaxation. It has the same effect as breathing regulation. If you remain in a relaxed state, the attack will not start. Learn to relax your muscles as needed, many special techniques you can find on the Internet.
These simple methods of self-help will only help relieve seizures, but not the disease. Therefore, do not hesitate at the first symptoms, be sure to contact a specialist in a mental health center for qualified help. Only the right course of treatment will help you get rid of the disease and again feel the joy of life. Anxiety panic disorder is completely victorious.