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Anxiety Attacks

OVERVIEW

The time we live in has been aptly referred to as the Age of Anxiety. Therefore, not surprisingly, people experience varying degrees of anxiety throughout their lives. By the time a person reaches the teenage years, dreams of living a peaceful and anxiety-free life have already begun. Unfortunately, despite the ideals of youth, no one escapes anxiety regardless of their achievements. Wealth, beauty, position, power, athletic success--none of these are any protection against anxiety. Some people, however, experience so much anxiety that it interferes with living happily.

RIDING THE WAVES OF ANXIETY

Rather than learning to safely and effectively ride the waves of anxiety, many people inadvertently increase anxiety by battling their anxious feelings. They wage a war and try to force anxiety away. Millions attempt to control or escape the unpleasantness of anxiety through T.V., caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, drugs, or sex. Others fight anxiety in their minds. They develop an artificial calmness or aloofness, giving an illusion of security and stability. People who appear unusually calm on the surface are frequently just the opposite inside, although, sometimes their self-induced numbness is so successful they do not realize the extent of their internal turmoil. Some people mentally fight anxiety by becoming preoccupied with work, finances, their health, or any number of things.

COMMON REACTIONS TO INTENSE ANXIETY

Many people experience an extreme form of anxiety that hits like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky. This type of anxiety is referred to as an "anxiety" or "panic" attack because of the sudden onset of extreme physical symptoms. The symptoms can be so intense they seem to signal an impending disaster--even death. Sometimes breathing becomes so rapid, a person gasps for air while his heart pounds with an increasing velocity. Other symptoms include sudden perspiration, uncontrollable trembling, numbness, dizziness, or inability to swallow.

What can be shocking is the sudden occurrence of the anxiety or panic attack--often without warning. Someone who has experienced constant anxiety or nervousness may never have such an anxiety attack, whereas a person who never had problems with anxiety may develop a serious problem without any apparent reason. Extreme anxiety can also occur without any association to a particular event or situation. For instance, a person may simply wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air.

Extreme anxiety, however, is frequently associated with a particular circumstance. The initial "attack" may occur sometime following a medical problem or in association with a particular situation that never caused any intense reaction in the past. Some people, for instance, may never have experienced difficulty shopping alone, riding an elevator, crossing a bridge, flying, or eating in public when they unexpectedly have an "attack" in one of these situations. After that initial episode, it's understandable the person could be traumatized and become anxious about future participation in the activity he associates with the extreme anxiety.

For some people, just thinking about being alone might trigger extreme anxiety. Such individuals seek security in the company of other people, on the phone, or in person. Family and friends become a type of security blanket to the individual who is convinced that his life depends on having someone nearby at all times.

LOGIC BEHIND ANXIETY

Some of my most intelligent, imaginative, and successful clients have experienced anxiety attacks. They cannot figure out why they would be experiencing such "ridiculous, irrational reactions." The intensity with which they analyze and fight their symptoms is commendable but often makes matters worse.

There is good news about anxiety though: for those willing to look and learn, it provides valuable information about how a person is operating, just as an automobile's instruments provide information on how it is operating. Anxiety is a warning signal similar to a trouble light on the dash of an automobile. It is not to be ignored or controlled. Learning to catch those signals early and utilizing the invaluable, though often unpleasant information, allows people to troubleshoot and make quick corrections before problems develop.

Without correct information and proper direction, many people suffer needless pain and anxiety. As a person comes to understand the logic behind anxiety, he can learn to quickly catch subtle warning signals far in advance of the "attack," thereby preventing the more serious symptoms.

One of the biggest hurdles in understanding anxiety attacks is the difficulty in distinguishing the myths from the facts. The following section will help dispel some of the myths.

MYTHS AND FACTS

Whether you are reading this book seeking help for yourself or are involved with teaching or helping others, your success will be directly related to the ability to sort myths from facts concerning anxiety attacks. Following are ten of the more common myths and their corresponding facts.

1. Myth: Anxiety attacks are caused by medical problems, such as heart disease.

   Fact: Anxiety attacks are rarely caused by medical problems, although the way a person responds to medical problems can produce various degrees of anxiety.

2. Myth: Anxiety attacks can cause a person to pass out while driving.

   Fact: If a person is driving an automobile when symptoms begin, he will naturally, and safely, tend to pull over to the side of the road before the symptoms become too severe.

3. Myth: Anxiety attacks can kill.

   Fact: Even though a person may feel his heart is going to explode or he is not going to be able to breathe, it takes much more than anxiety to kill a person. Just ask any emergency room physician who has seen hundreds of healthy people who had sincerely believed they were going to die from an anxiety attack, leave the hospital well and intact.

4. Myth: If a person feels he is going to die, then he will.

   Fact: Feelings, no matter how sincere or powerful, do not change the medical fact a person is not going to die from an anxiety attack.

5. Myth: Experiencing extreme anxiety means a person has lost control of himself.

   Fact: Even though a person may not be controlling his response to feeling anxious as well as he might, he is still controlling his thoughts and actions.

6. Myth: Certain situations cause anxiety attacks.

   Fact: Although anxiety may occur in association with a particular event or situation, the situation itself does not cause an anxiety attack. Rather, the manner in which a person responds to a situation or to feelings of anxiety, determines whether the anxiety symptoms subside or intensify.

7. Myth: Anxiety attacks can be avoided by avoiding certain situations.

   Fact: Avoiding situations actually reinforces the irrational belief that situations control anxious feelings rather than recognizing that the individual controls his anxious feelings. The result is a greater feeling of helplessness and anxiety.

8. Myth: When anxiety symptoms first occur, the best thing to do is try to make them go away.

   Fact: Trying to force unpleasant feelings to go away is like trying to put a grease fire out with water--it just makes things worse. It is better to acknowledge and accept the fact of "feeling anxious," while beginning or continuing to do something constructive, until the emotional waves pass.

9. Myth: To eliminate anxiety attacks, it is necessary to know how and why they got started.

   Fact: Learning to respond to feelings of anxiety in ways that minimize it, through rational thinking and behavior, is more important than discovering how or why the attacks began.

10. Myth: Anxiety attacks will be eliminated when a person achieves emotional security.

    Fact: Emotional security is at best a fleeting feeling, and at worst, an illusion futilely sought after like the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Real security has more to do with how well you manage yourself than on how you feel.

Before elaborating on how to minimize and eventually eliminate anxiety attacks, it will be beneficial to gain a better understanding of how an anxiety attack develops.

ANATOMY OF ANXIETY ATTACKS

To better understand the cause of an anxiety attack, consider how the immune systems works. It is designed to produce cells or antibodies, which fight to ward off enemy invaders to the body (viruses, foreign tissues, etc.). In an allergic reaction, however, the immune system goes awry. It turns against and attacks the very body it was designed to protect, thereby producing symptoms such as runny nose, itchy eyes, or asthma.

Emotional or physical pain, like the immune system, is intended to play a warning or protective role in a person's life. An anxiety attack, however, begins as your mind and body relentlessly attack in an attempt to eliminate its own emotional warning signals. Attacking anxiety--rather than responding to anxiety as a natural warning signal suggesting some personal action--can bring about an anxiety attack. Although not all anxiety attacks begin in the same way, most people go through steps similar to the following:

1. A person first experiences some mildly unpleasant physical sensations such as dizziness, fatigue, warmth, rapid heart rate, or difficulty breathing.
2. He consciously or unconsciously attempts to control bodily sensations he cannot directly or immediately control.
3. The physical symptoms not only persist but become more intense.
4. He imagines what might happen if he is not able to get his body under control. As a result, the initially mild physical sensations become increasingly severe.
5. He doubts his body's natural ability to recover without his own conscious intervention.
6. He tries to make his body immediately calm down but fails.
7. He begins to conclude that he has lost control of himself and something awful is about to happen. Result: Panic! The physical symptoms now mimic those of an impending heart attack.
8. He goes through some extreme, often irrational actions, in order to find relief. He may refuse to leave his house, insist on having someone to talk to every minute, or repeatedly seek medical help despite being told nothing is medically wrong.
9. He believes that whatever he was doing when his symptoms finally subsided, caused him to feel better. Fact: His symptoms would have eventually subsided, in their own natural way and time, no matter what he did or where he did it.
10. After the symptoms subside, he has difficulty learning from his experience. Instead, he becomes inordinately introspective and dependent on others and may limit or avoid activities.

Understanding the anatomy of an anxiety attack will help you to identify and remove the barriers to overcoming anxiety attacks.

Barriers to Overcoming Anxiety Attacks

There are seven common barriers that interfere with successfully dealing with anxiety attacks:

Barrier 1: Self-defeating goals.

Barrier 2: Fighting to control anxiety.

Barrier 3: Difficulty distinguishing feelings from facts

Barrier 4: Basing personal security on feeling calm.

Barrier 5: Vivid imagination.

Barrier 6: Feeling unsure how to prevent or respond to an anxiety attack.

Barrier 7: Trying too hard to help others.

Summary