WHAT IS PANIC ATTACK?
Its main feature is abrupt and recurrent episodes of intense anxiety or fear, which leave one terrified. Panic Attacks start suddenly, become more severe and reach the most intense level within 10 minutes; It usually goes away on its own after 10-30 minutes (rarely up to 1 hour).
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF PANIC ATTACK?
Chest pain or tightness in the chest,
Palpitations, strong or rapid heartbeat
Sweating,
Shortness of breath or suffocating
Cut-off
Dizziness, lightheadedness, falling or fainting
Numbness or tingling
Chills, chills or hot flashes
Nausea or abdominal pain
Shaking or shaking
Feeling yourself or others changed, strange and different
Fear of losing control or going crazy
Fear of death
A Panic Attack has at least 4 or more of these symptoms.
WHY DOES PANIC DISORDER OCCUR?
There are two scientific explanations for why Panic Disorder occurs:
1. Panic Disorder occurs as a result of abnormal functioning of some brain hormones, which are secreted from nerve cells called neurons in our brain, which regulate our excitement and emotional lives.
2. Panic Disorder is when physical symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, shortness of breath or dizziness, which occur as a result of some of our behaviors in our daily life and are completely “natural and harmless”, are evaluated by the patient as symptoms of a bad illness, and as a result, “heart attack” It occurs when it is misinterpreted as “I am going to die”, “I am going crazy”, “I will be paralyzed”.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO TREAT PANIC DISORDER?
Panic Disorder is a treatable disease. Its effectiveness for today is based on scientific research.
There are two proven treatments. These are: 1. Drug therapy, 2. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
1. Drug Treatment:
In the treatment of Panic Disorder, drugs that prevent panic attacks by correcting the hormonal activities in the brain nerve cells are used. Currently, there are a large number of drugs that are good for this disease in our country. By choosing one of these drugs, your doctor will recommend that you start with a small dose and increase the dose as necessary with regular checks. After at least one year of drug therapy, it will be gradually tapered and discontinued.
2. Cognitive-behavioral therapy:
This treatment method has two purposes:
1. It is aimed to correct the patient’s misinformation and beliefs about Panic Attack symptoms, which are actually completely “harmless”, and to teach the patient to cope with these symptoms without fear.
2. Panic Attack It is aimed to gradually compare the places and situations that he avoids to be alone because he is afraid of the future, so that he can “go over” his fears and overcome his fears. In this treatment, the doctor gives the patient activities that the patient cannot do due to fear and panic, such as going out, going to the market, getting into the vehicles, as “practice assignments”, starting from the simplest ones, within a plan. As the patient becomes able to do the simple ones, they go through the difficult ones and the exercises are continued until all the feared situations are over.
THE BEST RESULTS ARE GIVEN BY APPLICATION OF THESE TWO TYPES OF TREATMENTS TOGETHER.
