by Gemma Langerhuizen

Created on: December 12, 2006   Last Updated: April 18, 2007

Anxiety attacks are one of the most unpleasant experiences a person will endure but a good understanding of what is happening to you can help you to work through it.

There are many symptoms associated with anxiety attacks and all of them can be explained. The first and foremost thing to remember is that no matter how bad you feel whilst suffering an anxiety attack, no harm can come to you from the symptoms you are suffering.

Firstly, let's look at why this is happening to you. It is important to realise that ALL of the feelings you suffer during an attack are the result of excess adrenaline being produced by the body. This is actually one of the bodies safety mechanisms but in people with panic/anxiety disorder it has gone greatly wrong. Since the dawn of civilisation there have been imminent dangers facing man and so obviously the body needed a mechanism that would allow for an optimal chance of survival if ever faced with life-threatening danger. This is known as 'FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT'. If a stone-age man was faced with a sabre-toothed tiger it would not have been very useful to him to have to stand and reason with himself as to how much danger he was in before he could act. In reality, his body would have been flooded with adrenaline before he was even aware what was occuring, giving him immediate capability to either stay and fight or run as fast as he could to safety. This 'automatic' reaction is the result of the brain's 'fear centre' (the AMYGDALA)which, in a dangerous situation will prompt the adrenal gland to flood the body with adrenaline. This 'fear centre' however, acts completely independently of the logical part of the brain, the part responsible for reasoning. In people with anxiety/panic disorder this 'fear center' has started to respond to seemingly harmless situations due to a 'programming' problem. There are ways to re-programme the fear center but first you need to understand what is happening to you at the time of an attack.

This list is by no means exhaustive but i will include the main symptoms and the reason for their occurence:

1) Increased heart rate - the body is increasing blood flow to enable more oxygen to be transported around your body so you are physically more able to run/fight

2) Sweating - often a result of increased blood flow, the body temperature needs to be stabalized.

3) Shaking - your body has excess energy waiting to be used up

4) Breathing faster/harder - again your body is increasing oxygen intake.

5) Feeling dizzy/faint - Resulting

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