Panic Attacks
When a sudden wave of fear makes it difficult to trust what your body is doing.
A panic attack can feel frightening and overwhelming. Your heart may race, your breathing may change or you may suddenly feel dizzy, shaky, hot, nauseous or disconnected from what is happening around you.
For some people, the experience seems to come out of nowhere. For others, panic becomes connected with particular situations, sensations or environments.
What can become especially difficult is not only the panic itself, but the fear of when it might happen again.
You may begin monitoring your body more closely, looking for early signs that something is wrong or changing what you do in an effort to prevent another attack.
Therapy can help you understand what happens during these experiences and develop different ways of responding to the sensations, thoughts and patterns that surround them.
What a Panic Attack Can Feel Like
Panic attacks can involve intense physical and emotional sensations that build quickly.
You may experience:
a racing or pounding heart
changes in breathing or feeling short of breath
tightness or discomfort in the chest
dizziness or feeling light-headed
shaking or trembling
sweating or feeling suddenly hot or cold
nausea or discomfort in your stomach
tingling or numbness
feeling detached from yourself or your surroundings
a strong sense that something is seriously wrong
fear of losing control, fainting, becoming unwell or dying.
Because these sensations can feel so intense, it is understandable that your attention may become strongly focused on what is happening in your body.
New, severe or unexplained physical symptoms should be appropriately medically assessed. If you have chest pain or symptoms that may represent a medical emergency, seek urgent medical care.
When Fear Becomes Fear of the Next Attack
After experiencing panic, you may become increasingly alert to anything that resembles the beginning of another attack.
A change in your heartbeat, feeling slightly breathless, becoming warm or feeling light-headed may quickly capture your attention.
You may start wondering:
What if it happens again?
What if I can’t stop it?
What if I’m somewhere I can’t leave?
What if something is actually wrong with me?
The physical sensation itself can then become something you fear.
You might begin checking your breathing or heart rate, avoiding exercise or caffeine, staying close to exits, travelling only with someone else or avoiding places where you worry it may be difficult to leave or get help.
These responses can feel protective in the moment. Over time, however, they may give panic increasing influence over where you go and what you feel able to do.
How Therapy May Help
Therapy can help you understand what happens between the first sensation of panic and the way you respond to it.
Depending on your experience and goals, our work may involve:
understanding your individual pattern of panic
recognising how you interpret physical sensations
noticing when attention becomes increasingly focused on your body
responding differently to thoughts about what might happen
reducing excessive checking or monitoring
developing different responses to uncomfortable physical sensations
reducing reliance on avoidance or behaviours used primarily to feel safe
gradually approaching situations you may have begun avoiding
becoming more confident in your ability to experience discomfort without automatically treating it as danger
developing practical strategies you can use when panic begins to build
Where appropriate, therapy may also involve carefully and deliberately working with sensations that have become associated with panic, helping you learn that experiencing a sensation does not automatically mean something dangerous is happening. Approaches that address fear of bodily sensations and situational avoidance form an established part of psychological treatment for panic
The aim is not to guarantee that you will never experience anxiety or an uncomfortable physical sensation again.
It is to help you develop greater flexibility in how you interpret and respond to those experiences, so fear of panic has less influence over the choices you make and the way you live your life.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
You do not need to understand exactly why the panic is happening before you seek support.
We can start by looking at what happens for you during an attack, what you have become concerned about and what you would like to be able to do differently.