What Is Panic Disorder?

By becky

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Your face is flushed and your heart is pounding. You have a sudden impending feeling that the world around you is unsafe, despite the fact that nothing is happening. You may be having a panic attack — which is your body’s response to sudden fear, terror, or encountering the trigger for a phobia like heights, driving, or public speaking.

Sometimes panic attacks have no apparent cause. Panic disorder can be a crippling mental health condition, and for those who suffer from these recurrent attacks, the fear, though it can come on at random, is very real.

1. What Are the Symptoms of Panic Disorder?

Panic disorder involves recurrent panic attacks, which are more than simple nervousness that everyone faces from time to time. If you’ve never had one before, you likely can’t fathom the intensity of panic disorder patients’ anxiety. If you have, you understand that when you have a panic attack, it can hit you out of nowhere. You may suffer normal symptoms of anxiety such as face flushing, a rapid heartbeat, and trembling during a milder attack — or you may nearly pass out, vomit, and become suddenly afraid that death is imminent.

Because symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks can resemble those of other conditions like asthma, heart attacks, and stomach viruses, it’s best to get the opinion of a reliable doctor, psychologist, or psychiatrist rather than diagnosing yourself with the disorder.