Chapter 4 - How Panic Attacks Trick You

Question 1

Think back to your first attack, the one you had even before you knew what a panic attack is. You got terribly affraid not knowing why. You might have fled the situation without knowing why. But it’s our nature to want explanations for what happens to us. If you’re like most people, you tried to figure it out, either while you were still there, or after you fled the scene.

Answer 1

First four Panic Attack Reasons.

1. I was watching a scary move. That’s probably why I had a panic attack. I got really scared and could not bear to continue watching. (reason)
2. I was walking to class and suddenly felt tunnel vision. No explanation as to why.
3. I was taking the metrorail to college campus. I suddenly startedf to panic for no reason. This had to explanation.
4. I was in the middle of the high way with no water. I was thirsty and it was very hot. The next exit was very far away. (Reason)

Question 2

When you first have a panic attack and look around, you see no explanation in your immediate surroundings. If you had just had a close call with a runaway truck, or a wild animal, you would understand why you felt so afraid, and simply let it pass. But here, you don’t see any explanation of your fear, any reason why you might feel so afraid.

Answer 2

First four Panic Attack Reasons.

1. I was watching a scary move. That’s probably why I had a panic attack. I got really scared and could not bear to continue watching. (reason)
2. I was walking to class and suddenly felt tunnel vision. No explanation as to why.
3. I was taking the metrorail to college campus. I suddenly startedf to panic for no reason. This had to explanation.
4. I was in the middle of the high way with no water. I was thirsty and it was very hot. The next exit was very far away. (Reason)

Question 3

People want an explanation. You don’t like to be afraid and have no explanation as to why. So What do you do????

Answer 3

GUESS. You make something up.

Question 4

PEOPLE ALWAYS MAKE THE SAME KIND OF GUESS:

• I’m dying
• I’m going crazy
• I’m fainting
• I’m losing control of myself

Answer 4

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Question 5

THOSE ARE THE KIND OF GUESSES PEOPLE MAKE, AND THEY MAKE IT BASED ON THE SYMPTOMS THEY’RE FEELING. IT’S A REASONABLE GUESS, UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, IT CERTAINLY DOES SEEM AS THOUGH SOMETHING CATASTROPHIC IS HAPPENING. BUT IT’S NOT. IT TRICKED YOU, AND YOU GUESSED WRONG. A PANIC ATTACK DOES NOT DO ANY OF THESE THINGS.

Answer 5

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Question 6

Panic Attacks trick you into trying to protect yourself.

Answer 6

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Question 7

People frequently feel a particular lightheaded sensation during a panic attack, leading them to conclude they are about to faint. Even people who have never fainted and don’t know how it feels like to faint are quick to guess that this feeling means they are about to faint.

Answer 7

THIS IS WRONG. It means you are beathing poorly. Maybe you are hyperventilating, or maybe you’re just breathing really short and shallow from your chest. This results in a slight reduction in the release of oxygen to your brain and causes an uncomfortable sensation of lightheadedness. You ARE getting plenty of oxygen to live on. Breathing like this would not harm you.

Question 8

Fainting is the result of a sudden big drop in your blood pressure. You might not get enough blood to your brain if your bood pressure drops to a significant degree. Fainting is your body’s way of protecting you from this. If you don’t get enough blood to you brain, fainting brings your brain level down to the blood level.

Answer 8

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Question 9

What happens to your blood pressure during a panic attack?

Answer 9

IT GOES UP (probably not a lot).
It does the opposite of what would cause you to faint.

Question 10

If you’re an adult with no history of fainting, you just don’t have the physiology that would lead you to faint during a panic attack.

Answer 10

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Question 11

The fear is real. People probably tell you “it’s all in your head” in an effort to reassure you. They mean well, but it’s not true. The fear is real. The problem is, you’re experiencing this real fear when there’s no real danger.

Answer 11

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Question 12

Can you think of any situation in which a person might be very afraid, even though they know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they’re not in any danger?

Answer 12

Fear of heights. Fear of clowns.

Question 13

How about a situation in which you became afraid even though you know clearly that you’re not in any danger.

Answer 13

Elevators. Heights. Flying. Driving. Mall. Sun. Humidity. Being outside in general.

Question 14

We don’t have to be in danger to be afraid. All we need is to have some scary pictures and thoughts in our mind. Even though we know it’s mere fiction, we still get afraid.

Answer 14

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Question 15

People who get scared in the movie theater do not think that there’s something wrong with them. They do not feel their fear will have dire consequences. Yet, they’re experiencing the same natural process you do when you have a panic attack. The only difference is that they paid for the privilage while you get it for free.

Answer 15

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Question 16

We have our own movie theater in our mind that can produice scary movies and, even more effectively than Hollywood, trick us into getting afraid.

Answer 16

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Question 17

The physical symptoms of a panic attack are simply the product of your sympathetic nervous system.

Answer 17

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Question 18

The sympathetic nervous system is the part of your central nervous system that is principally responsible for gearing you up to face a sudden danger, like a tiger or a prairie fire.

Answer 18

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Question 19

The symptoms of a panic attack are the same sophisticated, automatic physical responses that your body uses to alert you to danger and give you the physical energy to respond to it.

Answer 19

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Question 20

Our body is kind of an old model. When our bodies were “designed,” the main danger we had to face was a gid predator that saw us as a meal. And, even though our world has changed a lot since then, our bodies still respond to danger the same way.

Answer 20

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Question 21

When you are in danger, your body resonds to it in three ways. Either FIGHT, FLIGHT, or their lesser well-known cousin, FREEZE.

Answer 21

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Question 22

If you think about the physical symptoms you experience during a panic attack, you can probably see that most of them have some adaptive value in a dangerous situation. They would all serve, one way or another, to help you survive an encounter with a predator.

Answer 22

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Question 23

A watchdog sees kids playing and mistakes them for burglars. You experience discomfort and mistake it for danger. Watchdogs need training so it can notice some of the key characteristics of children that distinguish them from burglars. You need training so you can better distinguish discomfort from danger.

Answer 23

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Question 24

The responses that help you with danger are pretty much the EXACT OPPOSITE of the ones that help with discomfort.

Answer 24

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Question 25

If you face danger, you can rotect yourself with fight, flight, or freeze. If the problem you face is discomfort, the last thing you need to do is get worked up about it. That makes you more uncomfortable.

Answer 25

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Question 26

WHAT WORKS WITH DISCOMFORT IS TO CALM DOWN, TO “CHILL OUT,” TO TAKLE A PASSIVE ATTITUDE AND GIVE THE SITUATION TIME TO IMPROVE ON ITS OWN.

Answer 26

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Question 27

“Floating through the panic” Claire Weekes

Answer 27

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Question 28

When your body responds to the wrong signal, when you get tricked into treating panic as if it were dangerous, you end up doing all the things that will make the attack last longer and be more severe.

Answer 28

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Question 29

As you body automatically gears up to face a nonexistant danger, your best efforts go toward making you feel worse.

Answer 29

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Question 30

Think about how you’ll handle a headache. Ideally, you accept the fact that you have a headache, and you do what you can to relax and allow it to pass as quickly as possible. It probably wouldn’t accure to you to get angry at the headache, or at yourself for having one. You certainly wouldn’t yell at yourself or bang your head against a wall in an effort to rid yourself of the headache.

Answer 30

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