The Physiology of Panic Attacks
The Physiology of a Panic Attack
Very often when someone comes to see me because they have what we call “panic attacks”, I have to explain what is happening physiologically because often, despite having been to their doctor, this has not been explained to them.
Experiencing a panic attack can be very scary. The person does not know what is happening to them and often, they will start to avoid situations where they have had one.
Symptoms might include sweating, shortness of breath, a feeling of unreality and general unease. The desire to leave the situation is usually strong. Eventually, the symptoms subside but the person might then feel fatigue and shakiness and often, fear it might happen again.
Panic attacks are an expression of the fight/flight response, a primitive biological mechanism designed to keep us safe. This is how it goes. You have an experience where you feel you might be in danger. Once you have registered this, the message is sent from your brain to your body to make the chemical changes that will allow you either to stay and fight or run for your life.
Adrenalin is secreted. Your heart beats faster so that it can pump more. Blood is diverted from your inner organs outwards to your limbs, non-essential functions such as digestion and the ability to think, shut down. You breathe more shallowly. Now you are in a physiological state to either run or stay and fight.
That’s all well and good on those rare occasions when you might need to respond to an event in this way. Certainly, our cavemen ancestors would have needed such an ability when faced with a wild animal or being attacked by a neighbouring tribe, for example.
In modern times however, there are few events that happen in most people’s lives that require such a response. What we do have however in modern times are the kinds of lifestyles where we are wound up and often stressed a lot of the time with an inability to completely calm down. This means that the nervous system is over stimulated as a matter of course and further pressure, perhaps something quite innocuous, tips it into full fight or flight mode.
The nervous system has two strands to it and they are designed to work together. One is called the sympathetic nervous system, the other the parasympathetic. The sympathetic is the part of the nervous system that stimulates us into activity. It is also the aspect of the nervous system that is overly stimulated when a panic attack occurs. The parasympathetic strand is also known as the rest and rejuvenate or holiday aspect of the nervous system. Many of us do not have lifestyles that allow this restorative element of the nervous system to work adequately for us.
The task of hypnotherapy is to attend to this. One of the first thing I do when someone comes to see me for panic attacks after I have explained what is happening physiologically, is teach them a breathing technique. Generally, someone who is experiencing panic will breathe high in the chest. This kind of breathing feeds the panic response because as we have seen, it is a necessary component of the fight/flight response. Re-educating the breathing goes a long way to relieving the symptoms.
There are of course other things I do with someone who comes to see me about panic attacks because the fear of having another one can be very much present and needs addressing, as does the ability to access more of the ability to be calmer in all sorts of situations.
Having said that, the knowledge of the physiology of panic attacks coupled with learning to re-educate your breathing can go a long way towards overcoming them completely.
Whilst this programme is not designed to deal with panic attacks, there is more information about the workings of the nervous system in my free download “Relaxation Magic”.
There is no need to suffer with panic attacks. Hypnotherapy can help you resolve them.