A panic attack is a rush of uncomfortable thoughts with real physical symptoms that starts with shaking and sweating and culminates into feeling of choking with shortness of breathe and chest pain. The symptoms seem so real that the patient is sized with a fear of dying. Some times, he is seized with the fear of loosing control and getting crazy. Although the first panic attack may come under a specific situation, the following attacks come unpredictably. It needs no stressor or reminder to rush on and literally seize the victim.

The panic attacks are so bad that the patients are always afraid of another attack coming any moment. This fear of another attack actually brings about another attack and the cycle goes on and on until the patient becomes almost paranoid. He is fearful of staying alone, fearful of being in company; fearful of venturing out of the home or in the public places. The good news is that such patients can be successfully treated with the panic disorder self help.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy, has turned out to be a powerful tool in the hands of psychiatrists in the treatment of panic disorder. The therapy aims to influence the dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal oriented systematic procedure.  The cognitive therapy behavioral will teach you some self-help techniques.

The term cognitive refers to our thought process. It reflects what we think, believe and perceive. The therapy will teach you to turn your thought away from that which triggers your panic attack. With the help of the therapy, you will learn to stop the thought of fear from forming inside your mind. If you can do that, the panic attack will automatically stop. The behavioral theory on the other hand will help you to tackle the situation by teaching you techniques such as self-monitory skills, relaxation techniques, exposure techniques etc. It will teach you to expose yourself to the situation that first triggered the panic attack in stages.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is not only good for panic disorder. It is equally good for anxiety attacks, mood disorder, personality disorder etc. Although anxiety attack is different from panic disorder in that the panic disorder is more intense, the two terms are often used interchangeably. Actually, both are included under a broader umbrella of ‘anxiety disorder’. Panic disorder and anxiety attack are closely related and their treatments are quite similar. Both of them can be tackled by panic disorder self help techniques, taught by cognitive behavioral theory.

Cognitive behavioral therapy takes time to be effective. It is a time-consuming process and therefore treatment of anxiety attack as well as that of panic disorder includes medicines such as benzodiazepines and antidepressants. Among the two, benzodiazepines are more commonly used for rapid short-term relief of symptoms. They are very useful in that they can be taken as and when they are needed. However, they also have a very short span of action.  Because of this, benzodiazepines are habit forming and increase drug dependence.

Antidepressants, on the other hand works slowly. Such medicines reduce the intensity of the symptom by balancing the chemicals in the brain. One can expect some results after three weeks of taking the medicine. However, no substantial improvement can be expected before eight weeks.

The anxiety disorder is a medical problem that should be treated medically. Contrary to what you constantly hear from others, it is not a weakness that will go away if you try to master mental strength. You need help. Though self-help is the best help, you have to learn how to help yourself. Therefore, if you believe the anxiety problem is hampering your life go and see your doctor first. Although you will need psychiatric help in the end, your family doctor will be able to channel you properly.

Treatment for anxiety attack as well as panic disorder includes:

1.    cognitive behavioral therapy

2.    medication

3.    lifestyle changes

We have already talked about cognitive behavioral therapy and medicines involved in the treatment. Life style changes are too important panic disorder self-help. Meditation has a calming effect on the nerves and is a useful tool in the treatment of anxiety attack. An active life style also helps in controlling the anxiety disorder. Do regular exercise, practice deep breathing, go out, and meet people. Do not fear another attack in front of company for there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Treat your disorder as an ailment, which it really is.

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Anxiety attack treatment will require your full participation. You must take active part in the treatment. Panic disorder self help will work only if you have a will to get well. Without your active participation, no treatment of anxiety attack will succeed.

Having an anxiety attack occasionally is normal for most people.  These are common feelings that run through our brains when we are stressed emotionally.  These stem from work-related matters like an important presentation to a key client, to more personal achievements like fitting in into a new community or gearing up for a public performance.  When these attacks get a little too overwhelming or occur too often, then it is time to consider curing ourselves of it totally.

Any treatment of anxiety attack needs to be done after consultation with an experienced medical practitioner.  Whether it is medication or a more therapeutic treatment, a doctor or psychologist will need to first analyze and diagnose us before we can proceed with our choice of cure.  This is important as only after a thorough analysis will we be able to know the severity of the anxiety attack we suffer from.

The kind of treatment recommended for our anxiety attack depends on a few factors, such as:

1.    How often we experience such attacks.
2.    How long each attack lasts.
3.    The severity of each attack.
4.    The reaction(s) each attack induces in us.
5.    How long we have had these attacks.
6.    The triggers for the attacks.

Just as different people have different triggers for each anxiety attack, any effective treatment of anxiety attack depends on each person and how they respond to each method.  Some doctors find that their patients respond well to common panic disorder medications while others discover that they need to resort to more drastic and aggressive treatment.
Panic disorder medications are prescribed to help the patient regain control of their emotions and rational thought, while reducing the frequency and intensity of each anxiety attack.  As such, they are mainly anti-depressants.  However, these medicines do not achieve much on their own – they achieve best results when the patient is also undergoing psychotherapy or other behavioral therapy.

Counseling is one of the best complements for panic disorder medicines.  Talking out a deep-rooted, irrational fear and facing it with an experienced therapist is one of the best permanent cures for panic disorder.  More often than not, these fears stem from some traumatic experience in the past which the patient has yet to come to terms with.  These experiences could be some form of abuse they witnessed or went through, deep grief or intense disappointment at an impressionable time in their life – most of which are curable.

Simple, home treatment can also be partnered with these anxiety attack medicines.  Mind relaxing exercises like deep breathing and yoga are often big helps on a daily basis.  They are simple enough to do and do not take up too much time to master.  Plus, they can be done just about anywhere – this last point is an extremely useful factor for any panic disorder sufferer as their attacks can happen in a blink of an eye.  Being able to do a simple, self-help cure for an impending anxiety attack without needing to find a room or clear one’s schedule will prove priceless.

Any treatment of anxiety attack will be monitored closely to gauge their effectiveness.  This is especially so when it comes to prescribed medication.  Close monitoring of prescribed pills is essential to prevent unnecessary dependence on these drugs.  If this were to happen, it would bring rise to a bigger worry – addiction.

Within a few weeks of such panic disorder medications, we (and those closest to us) should be able to see general improvements.  More control of our emotions, for instance, and less frequency of any anxiety attack.  If no changes are observed within the first 2 months of prescription, it may mean that we need a higher dosage.  No attempt on our own part should be made to increase the medications, though – a consultation with the doctor should first be done.

Panic disorder medications are often used continually for the first couple of years and after that, reduced in its dosage and frequency.  Each stage of reduction must be closely monitored and if there is a recurrence of the frequency of anxiety attacks, then proper adjustments will be made.  Sometimes, the medication may end up being a semi-permanent feature in the treatment of anxiety attack.

We are, by nature, amazing and miraculous creations that no matter how much progress in scientific technology we can achieved would never be able to unravel all its mysteries and wonders. Human being are biologically perfect, made in such a way that every bodily function is performed seamlessly and almost automatically, sometime to the point of whether or not we want it so. Take feelings of anxieties; that related to the bouts of insecurities, fears and concerns. These are wholly normal reactions which prompts the physical body into preparing for whatever decisive act that is needed to correct and arrest these often impromptu situations. Sometimes though some of us are placed in situations where anxiety attack treatment is needed especially since the levels of anxiousness goes beyond what is considered normal.

These abnormalities – prompted often by some kind of trauma of either physical or biological nature – are akin to having butterflies in the stomach for almost all occasions and situations. Those so afflicted will be prone to worries, jittery feeling and, most of all, fears and phobias, sometimes over the most whimsical of things. The impact of such anxiety disorders – it is in fact a medical condition – often prevents the patients from living their lives the way others do. They need anxiety attack treatment they way some people needs insulin for their conditions, and fortunately, good progress have been made into knowing the basis for treatment. Anxiety attack treatment works in such a way that helps reduces the physical symptoms of anxieties, and thus allow the owner of the body to take control over their fears and concerns.

What needs stressing is that some levels of anxieties are perfectly normal. It is only if these anxiousness goes on unabated that they could turn into disorders. There are also some physical manifestations of the condition which warrants some form of treatment of anxiety attack to be sought as soon as possible. These would include symptoms such as pounding heartbeats, profuse sweating, upset stomachs and constants bouts of diarrhea, shortness of breath, tense muscle, prolonged fatigue as well as constant fidgeting and twitching without any clear reasons for doing so. While some of the symptoms are attributable to other medical conditions, a combination could well be the surfacing of anxiety disorders, something which medical examiners could determine early on during a consultation.

Treatment for anxiety attacks essentially tackles the outwards manifestations of the condition, as to help patients achieved the strength in their core being to brave their concerns and anxieties. Many are even self help in nature that allows patients the luxury applying such techniques as and when they feel an anxiety attack is coming. In way these self help treatment for anxiety attacks teaches those so afflicted to not worry with the firm knowledge that they are empower to do something about it. Such self help anxiety attack treatment would include the simple exercise of deep and deliberate breathings. What this does would be to channel the body’s natural energy flow to the core of the patients, providing a balance to its biological function and in so doing, helping to provide for naturally induced corrections of any imbalances suffered.

The thing to note is the fact anxiety is a mostly behavioral in nature, something that manifest from the mind prompting the body into a fight or flight mode hence the multitude of physical symptoms attributed to anxiety disorders. Treatment for anxieties attacks sometimes treats these symptoms so that it would help calm the mind allowing the body to react accordingly. The danger to anxiety attacks lie in its continued recurrence which could in time lead to the more serious case of depression. Should this stage be reached it would then lead to the vicious cycle where one fed the other and vice versa. This is where some kind of panic disorder medications is needed to stem the tide of anxieties from overflowing a patient’s emotional well being.

It must however be said that panic disorder medications are at best a stop gap measure, more akin to a snack to calm a growling stomach. A patient suffering from anxiety disorders should not be allowed to be utterly dependent of medications that include relaxants drugs such as Valium to cure their condition or to even calm their nerves. Treatment for anxieties attacks must be two prong with medications only the first phase immediate relief measure, and the strengthening of the patients core – their minds, self control and above all, confidence – being the more important aspects to concentrate on. Treatment may be made self help, but professional help should be roped in to jump start the journey.

The terms “anxiety attack” and “panic attack” are often used interchangeably. However, the two terms denote two entirely different ailments and require two entirely different types of treatments.  Therefore one should be clear in mind whether he or she is a victim of anxiety attack or panic attack from the very beginning.

Anxiety is an uncomfortable feeling of fear, uneasiness or concern that something bad may happen. Anxiety attacks may cause physical symptoms such as:
    Trembling
    Shaking
    Muscle aches
    Restlessness
    Insomnia
    Rapid heartbeat
    Sweating
    Clammy hands
Panic attacks too show such symptoms. They are in fact; sudden, discrete period of intense anxiety. The main differences between the two are as follows:
    While anxiety attack comes in reaction to a stressor, panic attack may start without any apparent cause. That is there is no stressor involved in panic attack. It comes unprovoked, out of blue and all of a sudden.
    Anxiety attacks take place because you are worried about something in your life. Panic attacks take place because you are worried about your body or your mind.
     Anxiety attacks go away as soon as the stressor vanishes.
    The panic attacks may last for longer period of time. It builds up within ten minutes and may last for half an hour. Some attacks may however last for about fifteen seconds only, During the attack, the victim is seized with terror and feels that he or she is going to die or may have heart attack or become mad. The victim also experiences a host of other physical symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea. More over he or she is perpetually afraid of another such attack taking place.

Anxiety attack treatment is more or less same as panic attack treatment. Yet there is significant difference in approach. In both the cases the treatment involves medication along with cognitive-behavioral-therapy, which tries to change certain thoughts and behavior of the victim through counseling. It identifies and challenges the negative irrational belief that triggers the anxiety or panic attacks. Researches have also shown how alternative treatments such as yoga, muscle relaxing treatments and life style changes help.

However it is  essential to see a doctor if symptoms mentioned above appear frequently as only a qualified medical practitioner can make acute diagnosis and can prescribe medicines. We often do not want to see a doctor in such cases; sometimes out of embarrassment and sometimes out of superstitions. But this type of attitude should not be encouraged by the family or friends because only a correct and scientific treatment can restore normal life to the patient.

Treatment of anxiety attack is very complicated as diagnosis of the disease itself is very difficult. The symptoms of anxiety attack and of panic disorder are very similar to the symptoms of many physical and psychological diseases. So in order to make correct diagnosis, other physical ailments must be ruled out first. For that the patient has to under go a thorough medical check up. If no physical ailment is found, the patient should go to see a psychoanalyst, who should now rule out any other psychological ailment. Once all other ailments, physical or psychological, are ruled out, the patient should be referred to a psychiatrist with acronym MD or DO. Only such doctors are allowed to prescribe medicines, if they are required. Counseling and therapy are of course indispensable part of the treatment.

Panic disorder medications including benzodiazepines and antidepressants are used in the anxiety attack treatments as the two disorders are closely related. One does not have to be depressed to take antidepressant. These medicines do wonder on patients of anxiety or panic disorder.  But if somebody has panic attacks then antidepressants should be introduced at very low doses initially, as otherwise they can increase the rate of panic attacks. This is because the patients of panic attack are very sensitive to their bodies. In contrast the patients of anxiety attacks can be given the normal dose of antidepressant right away. Benzodiazepines are good for both the disorders. But the patients of anxiety attack are more likely to get habituated to the medicine as the anxiety attacks are more frequent.

But it has been seen that medications are more effective when combined with behavioral therapy as such patients who are treated with medications along with therapies are less likely to suffer relapses. Here too there is a difference. When it comes to cognitive behavioral therapy, the most effective technique in case of panic attack will be interoceptive (body) exposure and agoraphobia exposure.  In case of anxiety treatment the effecting technique will be relaxation training and thought restructuring.

Anxiety is a known phenomenon. We all have known what is to be anxious some time or the other. We have all known what anxiety is on the day our examination results were to be declared. We have known what is to be anxious when we were about to meet somebody we wanted to please, but did not know how to. We are always anxious to do better. In such cases anxiety has been a boon, as it had goaded us into action and we have tried and done better.

However, if you have anxiety disorder, the same anxiety that had helped you to do better earlier, will now disrupt your life totally. Anxiety to do better had helped you to push forward. Anxiety disorder will take you backward, keep you from coping. So what really is anxiety disorder or anxiety attack?

The difference between general anxiety and anxiety disorder are as follows:

Anxiety Disorder

Normal Anxiety

    Anxiety does not get in the way of your daily activities or responsibilities.

    You can control your anxieties.

    Your anxieties are limited to a specific small number of concerns.

    Your bouts of anxiety last for a short period of time.

    Your anxieties significantly disrupt your job, activities and social life and are extremely stressful and upsetting.

    You cannot control your anxieties.

    You worry about all sort of things and you always tend to expect the worse.

    You have been worrying almost everyday for about last six months.

The symptoms of the anxiety disorder tend to fluctuate. But on the whole they are as follows:-

Physical Symptom
    Muscle tension, body aches or soreness.
    Pounding heart beat
    Chest pains
    Feeling of choking
    Sweating
    Clammy hands
    Sleep disorder
    Nausea and other stomach problems
    Tiring easily.
    Chills and hot flashes
    Feeling dizzy and light headed or faint

Psychological Symptoms
    Irritability, jumpiness and edginess
    Inability to control anxious thoughts
    Feeling of dread
    Inability to relax and concentrate
    Fear of rejection
    Fear of losing control
    Fear of dying


Anxiety disorder can be subdivided into many subcategories. Some are:-
1.    Generalized anxiety Disorder
2.    Panic Disorder
3.    Agoraphobia
4.    Social Phobia
5.    Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
6.    Specific Phobia
7.    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
8.    Acute Stress disorder.

So, if you suspect you are suffering from anxiety disorder, you should first consult you doctor. How dreadful the disorder may be, anxiety attack treatment does exist. You must remember that anxiety attacks are not due to any weakness in your character. It is a serious mood disorder and there are biological and psychological component to every anxiety disorder. There potential causes of anxiety disorder can be family history and genetics, increased stress and inadequate coping mechanism, traumatic experiences or having to make a major decision etc.

Treatment for anxiety attack is simple once the diagnosis is made. However, as the symptoms are quite similar to many physical and psychological ailments, making the correct diagnosis is the hardest part of the job. A person suffering from the above symptoms must first seek the opinion of an authorized medical practitioner who, after a through medical check up, will eliminate physical ailments. Next the patient has to see a psychoanalyst, who should now rule out other psychological causes. Treatment for anxiety attack may begin only after that.

Anxiety attack treatment involves medication along with cognitive behavioral therapy, which identifies and challenges the irrational belief and tries to change such thoughts and behavior. Often anxiety disorder can be treated only by psychotherapy, but that is for the doctors to decide. Only a qualified medical practitioner can gauze the intensity of the attack and can decide whether anxiety disorder medication is required. Benzodiazepines and antidepressants are actually panic disorder medications which are used in the anxiety attack treatments. Panic attacks are nothing more than bodily sensation of anxiety and a catastrophic misrepresentation of those sensations. In panic disorder we tend to be worried more about our body than in other anxiety disorder. One should not reject the antidepressant drugs because they are not depressed. These drugs do wonder in panic or anxiety disorders. One should not take them on their own either. All the drugs have potential harmful side effects. Only a doctor can decide the doses required as intensity of the attacks vary from person to person. As a rule a victim of panic order should be started on a very low dose of antidepressant while that of other anxiety disorder victims can be given the normal dose. Please do not let embarrassment and ignorance keep you away from a healthy life. Go and see a psychiatrist with acronym MD or DO.

The world is such a wondrous creation in that everything exist for a reason and each has their own special roles in the big scheme of how life revolves on a daily basis. Just like it is with the natural world, the human body too is a fine balance of unique single units of biological that somehow co-exist with each other enabling us to function normally in our everyday activities without any major missteps along the way. We are such perfect creation that there not even a need to actually prompt any of these biological and purely natural functioning of our various organs and body parts as well as the more elusive concept on the self, something based steeply in religion instead of pure science.

It is when this fine balance is disrupted that our physical bodies would end up suffering. The one off and non serious afflicted we call sickness, and these includes ailments like cold, stomach aches and headache, and so on. Notice that except for the  cold, the other illnesses are linked with specific parts of our body, and should that particular part develop some irregularity, the whole body would suffer as there is simply no way that we can set the offending part to heal. It is when more than one functional part of our body fails that we can suffer from a more debilitating illness and symptom. The cold is one such manifestation which is admittedly the more milder conditions to suffer from.

A conditions that causes the body (or at least some of its parts) to stop functioning in a normal way is that of anxiety disorders. This is a condition where those suffering from it are prone to anxiety – the extremely uncomfortable feeling of concern and fear – disorders which, in normal no sufferers would be when they are confronted with something unplanned for, a new situation that is either fearful, or even embarrassing. Anxiety disorders patients are different however in that they would get these extreme anxiousness out of nowhere and at any time. Most of the time, they too wouldn't know what it was that triggered the anxiety attacks in the first place.

Suffering from anxiety disorders can be dangerous if no steps are taken to provide some form of anxiety attack treatment to curtail the biological, and psychological impact of such attacks. Unlike other forms of illnesses, anxiety disorders are not something that arises from a general breakdown in our bodily functionalities. Anxiety disorder sufferers often assumes that their conditions stems and are mainly caused by a flaw in their psychological health. They would be dead wrong here, and even though most patients of such conditions are non treatable, this is one assumptions that comes very much from their own extreme anxieties. In other words, these patients often would sink deeper and deeper into the deep hole of despair and without prompt and sustain anxiety attack treatment, they may well go into depression from where they might not be able to climb out from.

Treatment of anxiety attacks patients takes patience on both the physicians as well as the patient. The latter must be made to realize that his or her conditions are largely the  by-product of one trauma or another some time in their early life. The more extreme the attack – which would see sufferers sweating profusely, exhibit some trembling motion and, is often the case, a feeling of being genuinely alone in a place that is spinning and that they are caught without any support. These attacks can come at anytime and anywhere in particular, but normally, there would be some kind of trigger.
Knowing what these triggers are would be tackled by the first of a two prong approach in treating an anxiety disorder patient. These would be administered by psychologist in the form of counseling sessions and discussions on the patient's fears and concerns. In the first few sessions, there are no real need to identify these causes and, in fact, a patient can go through many sessions – and make startling headway – without ever finding out. All it takes is for them to regain the mental strength to control their emotions during such attacks and as such, being able to cope with them.

The second portion in providing treatment for anxiety attacks patients would be that of their physical being. Remember how our body functions as a single unitary biological machine? Well, in the case of anxiety disorder victims, oftentimes  anxiety and panic disorder medications take the form of relaxants and tranquilizers, which reacts to relax their patients muscles so that they can regain the much needed balance in their bodily function. These include anti anxiety drugs such as Xanax, Valium and Klonopin. You can say that these prescriptions are the ever friendly support unit, tackling something so debilitating for the body.