Panic Disorder
What does it mean having panic disorder?
Contrary to what people sometimes assume, having panic attacks doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a panic disorder, although having unexpected panic attacks is one of the essential features of this disorder.
These attacks may occur anywhere and anytime: not just in stressful situations and public settings but also in the comfort of your home and out of the blue. Usually, panic will attack while you’re wide awake, but in some cases, these episodes can occur during night time, jolting you from sleep quite abruptly.
Having Panic Disorder means that:
- You’ve had recurrent and unexpected Panic Attacks within the past month.
- In this period, you have grown increasingly fearful of having more Panic Attacks, which has been compelling you to change your daily routine.
- Your Panic Attacks have no specific probable cause, such as substance abuse issues, specific trauma or underlying medical issues (otherwise the specific diagnosis “Panic Disorder” will not be applicable).
Commonly coexisting conditions with panic disorder
If left untreated, as many as 95% of the people who suffer from Panic Disorder will often develop Agoraphobia, meaning their anxiety disorder may source a compulsive fear of open spaces and situations where the person feels as though panic attacks may occur.
It’s also fairly common for these patients to develop depression after some time, since their lives will feel progressively more constricted and limited on account of the underlying disorder. This is usually the case when patients do not actively seek treatment for their panic disorder. When timely treatment is sought, there’s no reason for this problem to escalade.
Other conditions that often coexist with Panic Disorder or otherwise develop as consequences of it include dysthymic disorder, hypochondriasis, and substance abuse or substance dependence issues. Moreover, sudden withdrawal of alcohol or other substances sometimes could precipitate the increased occurrence of panic attacks.
Additionally, other types of anxiety disorder will sometimes surface in these patients including social phobia, specific phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders and several others. This scenario may seem quite scary, but remember: there’s no need for your situation to evolve to such troubling scenarios, unless you keep delaying or avoiding your treatment for years on end.
How is panic disorder treatable?
The most effective and widespread model for treating this anxiety disorders is CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy), which revolves around three fundamental principles:
- Identifying the actual source of panic or stress, especially if none is apparent.
- Learning how to confront the source of panic, rather than avoiding it.
- Realizing how Panic is actually a disproportionate chain reaction.
Panic disorder can be especially tricky to deal with, unlike most other anxiety disorders, there is not a specific trigger or situational context. With panic disorder, anything can trigger the sensations of panic, sometimes in seemingly random fashion that will make the patients feel rather confused and disoriented.
This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a specific trigger to the initial panic attacks that could later evolve into a full-blown panic disorder. However, this trigger may not always be obvious, and sometimes this can be something that never used to be a source of anxiety in other moments in your life, such as dealing with a stressful life event, getting a new job or ceasing a relationship.
Similarly to other anxiety disorder, panic disorder is treatable by confrontation as opposed to avoidance. In order to overcome this problem, you will have to gradually learn how to face it, until you realize that your fears are disproportionate to reality. This may seem atrociously scary, but remember, you don’t have to do it alone, nor should you.
What are the best treatment options for Panic Disorder?
According to the studies on CBT treatments of panic disorder (1), success rates are as high as 75-90%, with continuous improved even after 2 years after the end of treatment. By contrast, as much as 80% of patients whose treatment is mostly pharmacological (based on medications such as imipramine or alprazolam) will experience a relapse of panic after discontinuation of treatment.
Panic disorder is very much treatable, but there are no miracle cures or fast answers. This usually holds true for any other type of anxiety disorder; in fact, you should always be suspicious when anyone promises an overnight cure because such a thing does not exist. (There are, however, certain tricks that you can use to alleviate symptoms of anxiety very quickly).
The good news is that during your treatment for panic disorder, you will likely improve your self-awareness and experience continuous insights that will allow you not only to overcome this problem but also to rekindle your life goals and passions as well as your ability to enjoy life to the fullest.
Further reading:
(1) Clark, D. M. (1996). Panic Disorder: from theory to therapy. In P. M. Salkovskis (Ed.) Frontiers of Cognitive Therapy (pp. 318-344). New York: Guilford Press
