You are in a supermarket. Looking for a certain item. As you browse the isles you begin to feel dizzy. You know you suffer from panic attacks and you know that you can’t stop them. Your heart starts pounding and you begin to feel sick. You look for the nearest exit to escape. You try hard to relax but you just cannot. It seems all illogical, theres no reason in the world for you to feel this way...but you do. Some situation or other will bring on a case of overwhelming terror, or panic attack. Why does this happen?
A panic attack cause can be, and is very different for everyone who suffers from panic attacks. The triggers can be something as small or slight as the taste or smell of something that had a profound effect on you at some point in time in your life. Or it can even be an event or a series of events that is your own personal panic attack cause.
What Is A Panic Attack Cause?
Heredity, other biological factors, stressful life events, and thinking
in a way that exaggerates relatively normal bodily reactions are all
believed to play a role in the onset of panic disorder. The exact
cause or causes of panic disorder are unknown and are the subject
of intense scientific investigation.
Studies in animals and humans have focused on pinpointing the specific brain areas and circuits involved in anxiety and fear, which underlie anxiety disorders such as panic disorder. Fear, an emotion that evolved to deal with danger, causes an automatic, rapid protective response that occurs without the need for conscious thought. It has been found that the body's fear response is coordinated by a small structure deep inside the brain, called the amygdala.
| The amygdala. | ![]() |
The amygdala, although relatively small, is a very complicated structure, and recent research suggests that anxiety disorders may be associated with abnormal activitation in the amygdala. One aim of research is to use such basic scientific knowledge to develop new therapies.
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Can People With Panic Disorder Also Have Other Illnesses?
Research shows that panic disorder can coexist with other disorders,
most often depression and substance abuse. About 30 percent of people
with panic disorder abuse alcohol and 17 percent abuse drugs, such
as cocaine and marijuana, in unsuccessful attempts to alleviate the
anguish and distress caused by their condition. Appropriate diagnosis
and treatment of other disorders such as substance abuse or depression
are important to successfully treat panic disorder.
