Causes Of Panic Attacks

What Causes Panic Attacks?

What triggers them? There is actually a very short and simple answer to this question - high anxiety.

But what exactly is high anxiety, then? Now that's an interesting question.

Anxiety is one the most basic emotions in human beings. It's a natural reaction that involves both mind and body. It serves an important survival function and acts like an alarm system that is activated whenever danger or threat of danger is present.

This alarm system protects us by helping us avoid dangerous situations and prepares our bodies for the so called fight or flight response. All this is a very complicated systemic reaction and totally natural.

The problem occurs when we have an oversensitive alarm system that goes off when there is no actual danger. That is the underlying root cause of panic attacks.

Can't we just shut off this oversensitive alarm system? If only it would be that simple. As said before, anxiety is a very complex reaction involving several basic psychological and somatic sensations.

Because of this, it's quite difficult to pinpoint the exact cause and take actions to make it go away. This is also the reason why there is no magic pill that would quickly fix these problems.

There are many reasons why some people are more prone to developing panic disorders than others. It could be due to genetic, biological, psychological, or environmental factors. Some are simply genetically more predisposed. Others tend to get more affected by stress, major life transitions, and so on.

Because all of this factors can contribute to the development of the condition, it's nearly impossible to determine the exact cause, other than say it's caused by high anxiety.


Is There A Way To Successfully Deal With Panic Attacks?

Yes, there is. However, there is no magic pill.

If we continue with the alarm system analogy - you can't just switch off the alarm system, because that would mean switching off yourself, but you can reset or reprogram it in order to bring anxiety levels back to normal.

This can be achieved without any medications or expensive treatments. All that you need is determination and guidance. One of the best guides in this field that I have come across is The Panic Away Program. Definitely worth a try.