Panic attacks are intense flight-or-flight response
A panic attack may occur when the flight-or-flight response rises beyond a certain level of intensity. In a panic attack you experience a terrifying level of fear and may be even be convinced that you are about to die. But the symptoms of a panic attack are just more intense versions of the normal fight-or-flight responses. They may be experienced as:
• Pounding heart
• Quick, shallow breathing
• Pounding hear
• Sweating
• Dry mouth
• Nausea and abdominal distress
Hyperventilation in a panic attack
Quick, shallow breathing can be extremely helpful when we need to fight or flee. It brings more oxygen to the arms and legs. But when we are in a situation where we do not more oxygen to fuel extra muscular activity, for example when feeling anxious in a supermarket, then we have overbreathing or hyperventilation. Hyperventilation helps breathe out the unnecessary extra oxygen. But more carbon dioxide is also breathed out at the same time. Unfortunately, the loss of carbon dioxide causes blood chemistry changes which make it more difficult to deliver oxygen to the tissues.
So to get more oxygen to the tissues, the body overbreathes or hyperventilates even more, which causes even more carbon dioxide loss. And so the person is temporarily caught in a vicious circle.
Hyperventilation is responsible for the following symptoms of a panic attack:
• Chest pain
• Trembling and shaking
• Light-headedness and faintness
• Numbness
• Weakness
• Difficulty speaking
Frightening thoughts prolong the panic attack
These terrifying physical symptoms of hyperventilation lead to understandable psychological reactions. There is a fear of losing control or going crazy. There are feelings of unreality or being detached from oneself. These physical symptoms can provoke the fear that you are dying. These fears can fuel even more anxiety, creating a vicious cycle that worsens the panic attack.
A panic attack is caused by the body’s intense response to the perception of a severe threat. If this arousal were followed by a vigorous fight or flight activity it would burn itself out in a few minutes. But the symptoms do not peak and decline quickly because our terrified thoughts make us hyperventilate. This hyperventilation prolongs the symptoms, which causes more frightening thoughts and so the vicious cycle escalates and the panic grows.
It is important to recognise that our body is reacting naturally to what it perceives as a highly stressful situation in order to help us survive. We are not going crazy. We are not going to die. And once we stop these frightening thoughts and reduce our hyperventilation the panic attack will subside.
How hypnotherapy can help panic attacks
Hypnotherapy can help to reduce the underlying anxiety and stress that trigger a panic attack. It can provide ways of dealing with panic attacks should they occur. Furthermore, hypnotherapy can help alleviate the fears of having a panic attack that can cause one to avoid certain situations and so increasingly limit their lives and enjoyment.
