Treatment for panic attacks starts as soon as you realize that you have panic disorder and that you need help. Many people go about in their life without realizing this much. However, you really cannot blame them for it because the symptoms of panic attack are very similar to that of some physical ailments that the diagnosis becomes hard. A full-blown panic attack will show some of the following symptoms:

1.    shortness of breath

2.    sweating

3.    heart palpitations

4.    nausea or upset stomach

5.    chest pain or discomfort

6.    feeling dizzy, light hearted and faint

7.    trembling and shaking

8.    numbness or tingling sensations

9.    choking feeling

10.    hot or cold flashes

11.    feeling unreal or detached from the surrounding

12.    fear of dying, losing control and going crazy

Diagnosis of panic attack is possible after a person has at least two attacks and develops the fear of having the third. This fear in turn triggers another attack. The attacks come unexpectedly, reach the peak within ten minutes, and may last another twenty minutes or more. Sometimes these attacks come so close to each other that it may look like one prolonged attack.

Unless the treatment for panic attacks start early, the sufferer may develop agoraphobia.  A person having agoraphobia is in constant fear of being in places from where escape is difficult. They must be constantly in view of an escape route. Besides, the embarrassment of having a panic attack in public may lead to social phobia too. All these may lead to alcohol and drug abuse, which in turn may complicate the situation more.

The best treatment for panic attacks consists of medications along with cognitive behavioral therapy, life style changes, exercise and yoga. Among all these, the importance of the cognitive behavioral therapy cannot be overemphasized. It has been successfully used to treat not only panic attacks, but also other types of anxiety attacks and behavioral problems like ADHD.

CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy reflects the importance of both behavioral and thought process in understanding and controlling panic attacks.  Actually, the CBT is combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy. The term cognitive refers to our thought process and reflects what we think, believe and perceive. There is a correlation between your thought and your feeling. What you think is what you feel. If your thoughts revolve around an impending fear, real or imaginary, you are definitely going to panic in the end. Behavioral therapy focuses on how your behaviors are contributing to and maintaining your symptoms. Maladaptive behaviors are learned through conditioning process and can be unlearned too through proper guidance and CBT does just that.

Suppose, you have been to see a picture in some movie hall and experience your first panic attack. You do not understand anything. You quickly get out of the hall, feel better, and by the time you are home you are relaxed. If some days later, some friend invites you to a movie, you refuse graciously. Why? You refuse because you are reminded of that day, when you had your first attack. You have erroneously started believing that you had that attack because you were in that cinema hall and if you go there, you will not survive. Cognitive therapy deals with such thought process.

Behavioral therapy, on the other hand, will teach you to go inside the cinema hall in stages. First, it will teach you to approach the cinema hall. If you feel panicky, you are supposed to use some relaxation technique that you have been taught. You are going to fail for a number of times. However, you are going to win in the end. The behavioral theory will gradually motivate you to go inside the cinema hall by teaching techniques such as self-monitory skills, relaxation techniques, exposure techniques etc.

In the case of cognitive behavioral therapy, the focus is on inadequate, obstructing and damaging behavior and irrational thought process that contribute to the continuation of symptoms. CBT is a scientifically studied technique and research has shown that it is the best treatment for panic attack, although medications may also be necessary in acute cases.

Medications for anxiety attacks include:

1.    Antidepressants - These are good medicines for panic attacks. However, they take weeks before they start acting. Therefore, you will have to take them for weeks, not just during the panic attacks.

2.    Benzodiazepines - These are anti-anxiety attack drugs, which act very quickly. These can be taken at the on set of panic attacks only. They give immediate relief. However, they are habit forming and have serious withdrawal symptoms. Such drugs should therefore be taken with caution.