What is a panic attack?

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It is perfectly normal to occasionally feel anxious in certain situations. Sometimes the experience of anxiety can be sudden and strong, this can lead to a person feeling ‘panicky’.  Examples of situations that might normally cause you to feel panicky include:

• Experiencing a ‘near miss’ in a car when someone runs into the road

• Having a sense that you are being followed when walking home at night

• Being on a flight and suddenly experiencing significant turbulence

A panic attack is quite different however from the types of situations listed above in that they seem to come ‘out of the blue’ and are usually associated with much stronger psychological and physiological feelings.  They may be triggered by a stronger fear of a particular situation or by thoughts about a situation that may or may not happen.

Panic attacks can be very frightening, and it is not unusual to get the feeling that something awful is going to happen, but this is not the case. NOTHING AWFUL WILL HAPPEN, PANIC ATTACKS ARE UNPLEASANT,  BUT THEY ARE NOT DANGEROUS