What Is An Anxiety Attack? Is It Different From A Panic Attack?

Question: What is an anxiety attack? How long does it last and what are the symptoms? Is it different from a panic attack?

Answer (1) An anxiety attack is a sense of being overwhelmed with fear and a sense of being unable to cope with a situation, a number of situations, or with one's feelings. A panic attack is an intense rush of anxiety that tends to be a response to something more specific, and thus the anxiety is more focused. Physical symptoms can include an increased heart rate, increased respiration/hyperventilating, shortness of breath, shaking/trembling, sweating, light-headedness and a sense of being detached from one's self. Panic attacks can lead to a fear of having a panic attack due to its extreme unpleasantness, so if a person had their first panic attack in a shopping centre, an avoidance of shopping centres may develop, which in turns heightens the anxiety. It's a very vicious circle. Panic attacks can last from minutes to hours, but I would think that they tend to last for minutes for the majority of people, especially once they learn strategies to manage their anxiety.

Answer provided by Graham Cox, Psychologist

Answer (2) Many symptoms of panic disorder are caused by abnormally low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. Many who suffer from panic and anxiety are also over breathers, that is they evacuate too much of the carbon dioxide with each breath by frequent sighing, deep breathing at rest, mouth breathing and reverse diaghragm breathing. Significant improvement in anxiety and panic symptoms can follow re-training the carbon dioxide set point in the brain. One of the methods I recommend for doing that is Buteyko This was recently explored in the ABC TV program Second Opinion

A list of symptoms: shortness of breath or having trouble catching their breath, heart pounding, feeling dizzy or light-headed, tingling or numb fingers, feet, face or lips, tightness or pain in the chest, a choking or smothering feeling, feeling faint, sweating, trembling or shaking, hot or cold flushes, feeling that things around them are unreal, a great urge to flee, dry mouth, nausea or "butterflies", "jelly legs", muscle tension, visual disturbances, inability to get thoughts together or speak, feeling that they are about to die, feeling that they are "going mad".

Answer provided by Peter Fox, Clinical Psychologist