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Severe Panic Attacks Should Be Treated By a General Practitioner

Severe panic attacks may take the form of a series of episodes that wax and wane every few minutes and last for as long as two hours, and end due to physical exhaustion as well as sleep. It is a period of intense and sometimes temporary disablement of the person who senses extreme fear or psychological distress, which onsets abruptly and ends just as abruptly. Though such attacks are very terrifying, they are actually evolutionary body responses known as fight-or-flight response that occurs out of context.

Abnormal Behavior Causes Distress

Severe panic attacks may warrant consulting a general practitioner because their behavior may become abnormal with fear sending messages to the brain that further turn into panic and fuels the distress symptoms. Severe panic attacks are known to cause interference in a person’s daily life as some people are unable to come to grips with their lives leading them in a downward spiral that ends up with their feeling depressed, and may even lead to self-harm.

People with such severe panic attacks may need to take drugs to help them regain control over their disorder. Mild anti-depressants are often prescribed by doctors, who will help the sufferer to realize that nothing is seriously wrong and that they will not die as they often fear they will. Severe panic attacks may occur at any time, and in order to deal effectively with them most doctors will use therapy as well as drugs, attempting to alter the way the the sufferer perceives things.

Some therapy strategies include altering the way the sufferer sees the world, which can take some time to achieve as well as teaching him or her to focus on words such as LIMP until it becomes the only word in the mind of the sufferer. To get over episodes, it is also recommended to remember and write down the panic thoughts that occurred during one, and when the sufferer regains calmness, to go back and ponder over these thoughts. In this way he or she can learn new things about him or herself, and with luck, come to terms with whatever is troubling them.

It is also helpful to learn to recognize warning signs of an impending severe panic attack that include elevated pulse, nervousness, pounding heart, nausea, sweating and more. If the sufferer forces him or herself to go for a walk or gets up and walks around, it may help to take the mind off the panic attack, though he or she should not take to dangerous acts such as going for a drive.

Severe panic attacks feed off themselves and the physical effects may cause increased adrenalin and thus worsens the problem. Breathing slowly will help as a severe panic attack can trigger an automatic reflex in the sufferer’s brain to make things worse. Forcing them to take deep breaths is certainly helpful, so too is avoidance of stimulants, getting plenty of exercise and sleep and together these things will help keep the sufferer’s mind and body healthy.