What are panic attacks? The science, symptoms and shakes behind one of the bodies most terrifying protective responses.
Panic attacks have become something I’ve become all too familiar with. In hindsight I’ve been experiencing them at varying degrees throughout my life, however, in the last year, they’ve become frequent and brutal. It was only when I was officially diagnosed with anxiety that I was able to put two and two together.
Of course, these were panic attacks! Why else would you be having this sort of response during uncomfortable situations? I look back and wonder how I could have been in such denial about the whole thing. It wasn’t until joining Twitter that I realised just how common these attacks were among others.
Today’s guest post is part one of two from an excellent mental health blogger; Spence (The Mindberg).
Panic Attacks;
By Spence (The Mindberg)
Many moons ago, I returned back to my studies at university after a short period away due to a very distressing time in my then relationship. I sat down in the lecture theatre and soon had an overwhelming sense that I must leave. I didn’t know what was going on for me, but things felt wrong; I felt wrong. It was as though the walls were coming in on me and I had a powerfully visceral sense that if I stayed in there things would become truly, truly awful.
I fled the room there and then.
I didn’t know what it was at the time, but what I had experienced was a panic attack.
What is a panic attack?
“A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause. This may occur when there simply isn’t a perceivable danger/obvious trigger (an un-cued panic attack) or if there is something that is triggering to the individual eg someone with a severe fear of public speaking having a cued panic attack before presenting a talk.”
The Mayo Clinic
What do panic attacks feel like?
The NHS lists the symptoms of Panic Attack as:
The experience can be so powerful that some people fear that they are going to die. It really sums the experience up well; it is an Attack of Panic.
What is panic?
“To suddenly feel so worried or frightened that you cannot think or behave calmly or reasonably.”
Cambridge dictionary
Panic is an unpleasantly exaggerated yet normal human state of overwhelm in which the everyday processes of thought, reasoning plus physical and emotional wellbeing are compromised in response to the perceived enormity of the threatening experience.
Panic is a state that overtakes us, taking “us” (the thinking sense of Self we often experience ourselves to be) offline and out of our driving seat. So if “we” aren’t, who is in the driving seat (and are we nearly there yet)?
Fight or Flight:
The Fight-Flight-Freeze (FFF) response is a system in all of us humans that “takes charge” in moments of crisis and threat. But why?
It’s sole purpose is our individual SURVIVAL. It does it’s best at ensuring this by fundamentally taking charge of our bodies and our conscious focus, to get us ready to flee if we can (Flight), Fight if we must or Freeze if we have no other options.
We can break this down into two parts:
Brain Circuitry:
The parts of the brain responsible for this are (evolutionarily speaking), old compared to the newer thinking parts of the brain (Neo-cortex). In times of such threat, the older circuits override the Neo-cortex, diminishing our capacity for clear rational thinking, but replacing it with spontaneous, reactive action. In times of imminent danger, we don’t want to carefully ponder what to do, we just need to jump out of the way of that charging mammoth!
Body Readiness:
The physical body needs to play its part and is readied instantly for action by the nervous system and stress hormones. For example, in no particular order (not a complete list):
- Your vision sharpens to spot the danger/ escape.
- Blood is diverted to skeletal muscles to fight or flee.
- Skeletal muscles tense ready for action.
- Heartbeats faster and harder to get oxygen to those muscles.
- The digestive system shuts down (non-essential at this point), so precious blood can go to muscles.
- Airways widen and breathing rate increases to get more oxygen into the body.
- Perspiration to keep muscles cool & operating optimally.
Ready to rock and roll!
However, what goes up must come down.
The FFF Hangover:
Not a comprehensive list, but a list nonetheless of potential side-effects, after-effects and by-products:
- Visual blurring.
- Skin looks pale and feels cold; may feel faint.
- Muscles shaking, “feeling shakey”.
- Heart palpitations/ racing heart.
- Dry mouth, “butterflies” in stomach/ “tied in knots”. Constipation or diarrhoea before or after the event, possibly even incontinence during the event.
- Hyperventilation- feeling “breathless”.
- Sweating- possibly “cold sweats”.
- Memory impacted.
- Not feeling quite present/ real.
(In addition, individuals can feel a sense of confusion, guilt or shame over how “they” reacted in the heat of the moment because of the FFF reaction.)
This may sound unpleasant but it is a normal response to an abnormal/ extreme experience.
“Hello, hello, hello….what do we have here then?”
The detective-types among you may have noticed that are quite a few parallels between this list and the list of Panic Attack symptoms.
It would appear that the FFF system is implicitly involved in Panic Attacks. So, what’s going wrong with a system designed to keep us safe to cause Panic Attacks? Well, it all hinges on that role of the FFF and, most importantly, how it goes about it:
Fight-Flight-Freeze; Job Description:
The FFF response is there to keep you alive in the face of various threats. However, this is an old piece of kit (evolutionarily speaking) and is much more like a hammer than a surgeon’s scalpel. It basically doesn’t care if or when it gets it wrong by being too reactive- it doesn’t care if you are happy or not/ feeling anxious or panicky as long as you survive.
A useful evolutionarily-supported example might be when you’re walking through a wooded area, and you spot out of the corner of your eye a tree branch close to you by the path. Your FFF system may kick in as this branch has the potential to be a poisonous snake, a major hazard in the lives of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. And so, you may jump/ run away, snap your eyes around to look directly at it and/or feel a surge of stress hormones in your body (to list but a few possibilities).
A potentially life-saving reaction the 1 time in 1000 or 10,000, for us more city-living folks, but the remaining 999 or 9,999 times, you may look a bit of a plonker/ feel embarrassed!
The FFF system doesn’t “care” about you looking like a right wally-herbert a.k.a. false positives, because if this system allows for a false negative (allowing you to nonchalantly step on a King Cobra), it has failed and your survival is at serious risk.
So this is a system that is “designed” to be overly reactive.
Introducing the Amygdala: Turn the dial up to 11!
The Amygdalae (1 on each side of the brain) are highly sensitive danger detecting regions- they are sometimes referred to as the “smoke detectors of the brain”. These are the gatekeeper for the FFF response going into full swing- it is key in the split-second designation of “threat” and us entering a state of alarm.
To further its importance in relation to Panic Attacks, the degree of reactivity/sensitivity of the Amygdala(e) can be increased by your levels of stress/ anxiety and any previous experience of crisis and trauma. Your general stress levels really play a key role.
In addition, what you think about and your “self-talk” (how you talk about yourself, to yourself) impacts this and how readily the system cascades into action.
“Spence is the founder, writer, caretaker, first-aider, rhythm guitar player and chief coffee maker over at www.themindberg.com, a blog devoted to mental health/ parenting/ psychology-esque stuff.
Endeavouring to post weekly (as long as my children let me), on interesting and supportive matters that connect with other mental health sufferers (aka human beings).”
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