A panic attack can come on suddenly and feel physically overwhelming. Your heart races, your chest tightens, you can’t seem to catch your breath, and in the moment, it’s difficult to believe something isn’t medically wrong. Some people experiencing a panic attack for the first time go to an emergency room convinced they’re having a heart attack.
Having a panic attack doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, and it doesn’t automatically mean you have panic disorder. Panic attacks are relatively common, and having one doesn’t mean you will develop an ongoing panic disorder.
Luxury Psychiatry Clinic provides counseling and psychiatric care for panic attacks and panic disorder, with an individualized evaluation as the starting point for every patient. We use evidence-based treatment, which may include psychotherapy, medication management when appropriate, or a combination of both. We see patients in Chicago and the Orlando area, with online appointments available for eligible patients. If panic attacks are affecting your life, contact us to schedule an evaluation.
A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear or discomfort that triggers a strong physical reaction, usually peaking within minutes. It can happen in response to a specific trigger, or it can arrive without any obvious cause at all. What makes panic attacks so distressing is the speed and intensity of the physical response.
The body’s alarm system activates as though it’s facing danger, and can produce symptoms that make it seem like you’re having a medical emergency. Attacks are typically brief, though the fear and exhaustion afterward can linger much longer. What Are the Symptoms of a Panic Attack?
Panic attacks cause both intense fear and very real physical symptoms.
Because several of these symptoms overlap with cardiac and other medical conditions, it’s important that new or unexplained symptoms be evaluated by a medical professional. Once physical causes have been ruled out, a mental health evaluation can determine whether what you’re experiencing is panic and what treatment would help.
Anyone can experience a panic attack. An isolated attack, even a severe one, is not itself a psychiatric disorder.
Panic disorder involves recurrent, unexpected panic attacks followed by at least a month of persistent concern about additional attacks, changes in behavior because of them, or both.
The difference isn’t simply how intense one attack feels; it’s the recurring pattern of attacks and the fear or behavioral changes that build up around future attacks. Those behavioral changes are often the ones that affect daily life the most.
People with panic disorder may avoid exercise because an elevated heart rate feels too much like the start of an attack, stop driving, stay close to home, repeatedly check for exits when entering a room, or spend significant mental energy anticipating when the next attack might come. Each of these adjustments makes sense as a way to feel safer, but together they can negatively impact a person’s life considerably.
Panic attacks often occur alongside other mental health conditions, like social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression.
Agoraphobia is a separate anxiety disorder that sometimes develops alongside panic disorder, and is often associated with avoidance. After repeated panic attacks, a person may begin staying away from places or situations where they worry that escaping or getting help would be difficult if another attack occurred. This might include crowded stores, public transportation, driving, standing in line, or simply being far from home.
Each time a person avoids one of these situations, they may feel immediate relief, which can reinforce the avoidance and make the next situation feel even harder to face. Not everyone with panic disorder develops agoraphobia, and not everyone with agoraphobia experiences panic attacks, but the two conditions can occur together.
Panic disorder is commonly treated with psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the two, depending on a person’s symptoms, preferences, and medical history. Our providers begin with an evaluation and build from there. Below are some of the common treatment modalities we utilize:
CBT is one of the best-studied treatments for panic disorder, and the National Institute of Mental Health describes it as the gold-standard psychotherapy for this condition. Panic tends to run on a loop. A bodily sensation appears, which could be something like a racing heart or feeling dizzy, and a thought follows that interprets it as being dangerous.
The fear that thought produces intensifies the physical symptoms, which seems to confirm the interpretation, and the cycle accelerates. CBT can help break that loop by identifying and challenging the thoughts that interpret those sensations as dangerous.
Exposure therapy is commonly incorporated into CBT for panic. It’s a little bit more gradual than the name implies. It’s done gradually, at a planned pace you and your therapist determine together.
For panic disorder specifically, treatment often includes safely and deliberately practicing the physical sensations associated with panic, like briefly raising your heart rate, for example, so that those sensations become less frightening on their own. The purpose is to reduce avoidance, change how you respond to bodily sensations, and build confidence that anxiety can be tolerated.
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is the broader category that CBT falls within. Talking to a licensed mental health counselor or other licensed therapist gives patients space to understand their patterns and triggers, work through fear about future attacks, identify where avoidance has come into their daily life, and address other mental health concerns that may be contributing to their panic attacks.
Other psychotherapy approaches, including acceptance and commitment therapy, may also be incorporated depending on a patient’s symptoms and treatment goals.
ACT emphasizes accepting uncomfortable thoughts and sensations rather than fighting them. For some patients, that shift from trying to eliminate anxiety to changing their relationship with it can help.
DBT skills may sometimes be used as well, particularly when a patient would benefit from additional tools for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, or mindfulness. Whether DBT skills are useful depends on the individual and what else is present alongside panic.
Mindfulness practices help ground attention in the present and build the ability to notice physical sensations without immediately interpreting them as dangerous. Breathing and relaxation practices can be surprisingly helpful.
Some patients benefit from medication in combination with counseling, and as a psychiatric practice, we’re able to provide both. SSRIs and SNRIs are commonly used for panic disorder, and other medications may be considered depending on the situation. Benzodiazepines are sometimes prescribed for acute anxiety, but they require careful use and monitoring because of tolerance and dependence concerns.
When evaluating whether medication makes sense for you, our providers consider your symptoms, health history, other medications you’re taking, what treatments you’ve tried before, potential side effects, and your preferences.
There’s no threshold you have to cross before it’s reasonable to ask for help. That said, a few signs suggest an evaluation would be worthwhile, including:
Many people wait years, assuming they should be able to manage it themselves or that it isn’t serious enough to warrant treatment.
Panic disorder can persist or recur, and the avoidance patterns that develop around it can make daily life increasingly difficult. Don’t hesitate to reach out for treatment.
Panic attacks can feel like something you have to plan your life around, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Panic disorder responds well to treatment, and effective, evidence-based coping skills and treatment options exist. Luxury Psychiatry Clinic provides counseling and psychiatric care for panic attacks and panic disorder for patients in Chicago and the Orlando area, with online appointments available in some situations. Contact us today to schedule an evaluation.
* Our policy for any patient needing a controlled substance needs a face-to-face appointment with the provider prior to the prescription being sent to be compliant with the DEA guidelines.
We Look Forward to Seeing You!
Registration complete ✓
You’re almost done. Select “Existing Patient – Book Appointment” below to schedule your visit.
