What is a Child Panic Attack?

A child panic attack can be a very serious and frightening matter, both for the child and for the parents. In this brief article, I will outline some of the facts around a child panic attack and decipher some clues as to what parents can do for their children in this frightening and confusing time. Children experience emotional issues such as panic and anxiety much differently than adults, so education is as important as anything when dealing with this situation.

Children and teenagers experience panic attacks and often develop fears of going places because of this. They fear that should they engage in an activity, a panic attack may occur and embarrass them. There are many different types of child panic attack disorders.

GAD – Generalized Anxiety Disorder
GAD is an anxiety disorder that is generally known by the patient experiencing excessive worrying about a series of events. These events can either be in the past, in the present, or in the future so the time has little to do with the amount of “logical worry” that is applied. Sometimes children or teens worry about past events, conversations they may have had, upcoming events, school, friends, family, functions or any other possibility. Typically a child experiencing GAD cannot control the amount of time spent worrying about such things.

The best way known to treat GAD is through relaxation techniques and therapy. Generally talking children out of their worrying can work wonders, but a trained mental health physician is usually the best prepared to encounter such a disorder. Children are taught to use positive self-talk instead of the discouraging words of worry and are taught to generate a dialogue with others to explore their feelings. This child panic attack disorder does not generally have a prescribed medication.

Separation Anxiety Disorder

Children may experience panic when they are separated from loved ones or comfortable situations that they are used to. This generally applies to younger children who are separated from parents. The threat of separation from a caregiver often results in anxiety and occurs in cases such as when the child is left with a babysitter on a parents’ evening out on the town.

The child may avoid activities that result in separation from its caregivers and may worry excessively about the caregiver when they are gone. Normally the therapy involved includes recognition of these emotions and a good dose of reality: that nothing wrong happens, etc. Children are also taught coping skills to deal with the separation, often through role playing.

What is a Panic Attack Disorder?

A panic attack disorder is a disorder that involves sudden surges of fear, often overwhelming surges. The difference between a simple attack and a full-on panic attack disorder is the length of time the symptoms persist and the gravity of the symptoms. Essentially, a panic attack disorder disrupts your life and causes you to completely revamp the way in which you go about your daily work, home life, and social life.


A panic disorder is a fairly common condition, however. Generally without warning the symptoms arrive and cause the sufferer to feel fearful, nervous, and frightened without reason. These episodes can last minutes, sometimes even hours, and can be very disabling to most people as they essentially can freeze a person like a “deer in the headlights”. Being paralyzed by fear is a very real notion to those that suffer with panic attacks on a regular basis.


The Cause

The cause for a panic attack is not usually obvious, but it is something that is generally “normal” as a part of a regular stressful modern life. The development of a panic attack disorder is usually associated with a lack of proper coping skills more than it is a brain function or a biological illness as the idea behind panic is a poor management of stressful situations.

Mental health professionals often prescribe a variety of types of therapy. These include color therapy and hypnosis but in general result in a discussion of the fears or anxiety triggers to comprise a proper coping plan that will ease the effects of the stressors. However, in some of the more serious cases various medications can also be prescribed to aide in the balancing of brain chemicals that the stress and the poor reactions to it may have unbalanced.

Symptoms

Panic attacks usually come with a set of symptoms that include: shaking, trembling, heart palpitations, sweating, chest pains, shortness of breath, choking or feeling like you may be choking, nausea, dizziness, cramping, tingling, numbness, chills, hot flashes, and even “out of body” experiences or feelings related to that experience. There are other symptoms as well, but many of these are dependent on the individual panic attack sufferer.

Once again, the difference between a panic attack and a panic attack disorder is the frequency and the overall gravity of the anxiety and the symptoms. Many of those with an attack disorder seek counselling and are prescribed medication as well to combat the effects of the symptoms. As anyone with a panic disorder will tell you, anxiety can be very crippling and without professional medical help can cause serious problems.

What is an Anxiety Panic Attack?

An anxiety panic attack is characterized as a panic attack that is induced due to unnatural levels of anxiety. This anxiety can be related to anything, the attacks are not just limited to major stressful events or concerns. Anxiety over a party, a loved one, even anxiety over what clothes to wear can cause an anxiety panic attack.


One of the key features of an anxiety panic attack is the focus of the attack. When a person experiences such panic, usually the panic has a central trigger. For some people, who tend to experience chronic panic attacks, the trigger tends to be the same thing. Agoraphobics, for instance, tend to have an anxiety panic attack anytime they travel beyond their safe distance, for some this can be just beyond their doorstep.

Triggers
For most people the trigger for an anxiety panic attack will vary with the situation. At times of extreme stress panic can trigger as the body’s natural reaction to the high levels of stress. This is known as the fight or flight reaction, and is widely accepted as the main reason behind any panic attack. When a person experiences an extremely stressful, or traumatic, event the body will react. A release of chemicals into a persons system will cause an extreme reaction to the situation.

An anxiety panic attack occurs when the chemicals are triggered by a reactive stressor. There is no need for it, but the body assumes there is some danger it must react to, this is a panic attack. An anxiety panic attack can be marked by many key factors. Overwhelming feelings of fear, and hopelessness are all signs of an attack. Other signs include increased heart rate, sweating, tingling in the extremities, headaches, nausea, extreme emotional fluctuations.

Symptoms
The list could go on for quite sometime, as symptoms tend to be a mixed bag when concerning panic. However, any panic sufferer will attest to the immense feeling of anxiety that accompanies an anxiety panic attack; as if there is nothing in the world that can help you, unfortunately it is one of the major common symptoms that mark an attack.

The good thing about an anxiety panic attack, if it can be said there is one, is that in most cases they can be controlled. Exercise, controlled breathing, healthy diet, relaxation techniques, even just someone to be there and listen, all of these can help control panics. For many the key is to find what causes the panic and reduce the effect that factor has on their life.

You Can Control Panic Attack Symptoms!

If you have ever experienced a panic attack, then you know the feeling of terror that accompanies them, as well as the crippling fear that it might happen again. If you are one of the three million Americans who have had multiple panic attacks, you should know that there are ways to control panic attack symptoms.

The symptoms are similar to a heart attack, and a sensation that you have lost touch with reality and an impending dread often accompanies the physical symptoms. While you might end up in the emergency room the first time, this is not adequate treatment. In order to control panic attack symptoms, you need to help prevent them in the first place.


Options
One option is to consult a physician about taking antidepressants. Some medicines on the market, such as Paxil and Prozac, can help panic attack sufferers from reoccurrences. Another option available is cognitive-behavior therapy. This method utilizes visualization, breathing and relaxation techniques to fend off the symptoms of a panic attack when they occur.


Another option that some sufferers choose to help control panic attack symptoms is to actually face the fears. For some, gradually confronting the situations that cause panic can help eradicate them. There is method to this treatment, and it should be undertaken under the care of a physician or therapist so as not to aggravate the problem.


Chronic panic attacks, known as Panic Disorder, are a serious medical condition that can drastically affect the quality of your life. Panic Disorder is not necessarily a permanent condition and it can be treated successfully. Knowing that there are treatments out there though should help you can beat those fears and control panic attack symptoms!

Results
By using the options that work for you to help control your panic attacks, you are able to live a life that is free of suffering from constantly being consumed with fear of your next panic attack. You can also use what you know to help others that may be in the same position you were in before you found the proper help.


Of course, encouraging someone to see their doctor is the best way to go, but because many people are afraid to seek professional help or because they are ashamed of their condition, helping them to learn breathing exercises and the like that have worked for you is something that can offer them at least a small amount of relief.

Agoraphobia Panic Attack Information

Agoraphobia is generally considered an anxiety or panic disorder, commonly referred to as the fear of traveling. This fear can range from not being able to travel a few hours away from the home, all the way down to not being able to leave your home all together.  An agoraphobia panic attack is basically an attack that occurs when an agoraphobic attempts to go beyond their “safe” boundaries.

The problem with treating an agoraphobia panic attack is that the only real way to overcome the attack is for the person to attempt to push their limits. This is the reason why many agoraphobics tend to get worse before they get better. It is easy for an agoraphobic to ignore their problem, since all they have to do is not travel beyond their limits but unfortunately while being easy to ignore, agoraphobia also tends to be the most stifling of the symptoms that can arise from chronic panic disorder.

Begin With Baby Steps

The best thing an agoraphobic can do to stem their agoraphobia panic attacks, is to begin taking baby steps. Setting goals to overcome their attacks is the only way an agoraphobic will ever be able to finally master their fears. This process is best done with the help of family and friends, who can help you to make those steps all the while keeping the person assured of their relative safety.

It isn’t completely known what causes agoraphobic panic attacks, or why the panic attacks manifest in this form.  It is suspected that many agoraphobics already had the propensity for being afraid of travel, with many of them being the type that experienced motion sickness before they ever experience panic attacks.

The Unknown

An Agoraphobia panic attack is particularly frustrating to the sufferer themselves.  Mainly because the attack is even less rational then a standard panic attack. Why they experience a fear of traveling beyond a certain distance, or going to a certain place is unknown. But anyone of the numerous anxiety / panic disorders can take root and cause agoraphobia.

Social anxiety can lead to a fear of certain public places, especially grocery stores and other places that have a large gathering of people. On the other hand general panic disorder can cause the panic sufferer to become embarrassed of their own disorder, which leads to a fear of traveling outside and having a panic attack.  It just goes to show the difficulties that are had in identifying and dealing with an agoraphobia panic attack.