Anxiety attack?

[Samantha34]

I was wondering if someone could give me some background on anxiety attacks and panic attacks. I think I may have had an anxiety or panic attack the other day but am unsure seeing as how it would have been my first one. I just want to know what they are and the differences between the two.

[Lin]

Anxiety is fear of irrational worries - worry about 'what its'. Anxiety can get so bad it causes panic attacks because you believe the anxiety and irrational fear and it is so real that makes us panic and want to run or get out of situation. Can make you feel all hot and bothered, heart racing, and shallow breathing so feel dizzy etc. So you have to face irrational fears to stop anxiety and then panic attack will gradually get better. Also learning to slow breath down or meditate when happening helps. This is my interpretation, but you will got lots of replies, some of which might say different,.

[alankay]

It's a matter of intensity and the following/resulting behavior afterward. An anxiety attack is when you experience a significant/high amount of the "bodies flight or flight" adrenaline response due to excessive worry or preoccupation with a fear and it builds(no significant change in you behavior). Panic is the full blown fear response that is so bad it makes you leave a given spot or situation and sets you up for phobic avoidance going forward. So anxiety is a significant amount of high anxiety and panic is the full blown fight or flight so strong it results with a response with repercussions(phobic avoidance) down the road, which makes it all worse and you start to change you behavior(to avoid the panic) and it interferes with life at home/school/work. Alankay

[Judie]

Well they are horrific, given that it is your mind working/ using your body to send out alarming symptoms so that you will take notice that something isn't right. Meaning ? We often ignore our true feelings and refuse to address them ( pent up anger, depression, grief etc) I equate generalized anxiety or anxiety attacks to high stress in one's life. Panic Attacks come out of the blue, terrorizing the individual because they believe because they were " seemingly" fine at that moment that it MUST be a devastating health problem. My observation is that Panic Attacks are a result of long term stress, depression, phobias) that you simply aren't addressing. The human mind is magnificent and works well with the body to send out signals ( albeit horrific) to force you to pay attention. The difference between anxiety and panic " Anxiety is like sitting on a wing of a plane in flight, but Panic is like hanging by your fingertips from the wing of the plane in flight " Scary stuff but that's all it is...Scary Stuff. Address your feelings.

[Judie]

The Phobic Response is an attempt to control the anxiety. Very difficult for people to accept that the place or the situation did not cause the attack, the thought process did.