Each of us at least once has experienced a condition when a sudden fear forced the heart harder and breathing became more frequent and deep, dryness appeared in the mouth - the body was preparing for a rapid response to danger and, if necessary, to self-defense. These functions, regardless of our consciousness, is managed by a vegetative nervous system sensitive to emotional effects.
Content
Domestic doctors have been used for a long time and use the terms now «Vegetative crisis», «Sympatheadar crisis», «Cardionerement», «ISR (Vegeta Dystonia) with crisis», «NCD — cardiopsychoneurosis», reflecting ideas about violations of the vegetative nervous system depending on the leading symptom. Term «panic attack» He has world recognition.
What is a panic attack?
Someone is inclined to accommodate stress through the respiratory reaction, cardiovascular symptoms, through headache or disruption of the gastrointestinal tract. Panic attack is subjectively experiencing harder, however, it, like any other symptom of stress, does not lead to death and does not harm the authorities. Fear itself does not lead to death. Our body is able to withstand fear. Feelings themselves are not damaging. Panic attacks never go into psychosis and other serious mental illness and never lead to death from choking or stop heart.
The person who first faced this state is greatly frightened, begins to think about any serious heart disease, endocrine or nervous systems, digestion, can cause «ambulance». He begins to walk on doctors, trying to find reasons «attacks». Interpretation by the patient's symptoms of the disease leads to frequent visits to the doctor, repeated consultations from specialists of various profiles (cardiologists, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists and of course in therapists) and differences in the interpretation of this disease in different specialists, creates the impression of difficulty and uniqueness in the patient, and sometimes The incurability of its disease.
Attention! Invalid Presentations of the Patient, about the essence of the disease, lead to the emergence of hypochondriatic symptoms that contribute to the weighing of the disease.
Symptoms of panic attack
On the clinical picture, panic attacks can be typical and atypical.
Typical panic attacks are characterized by the following bodily and mental symptoms in any combination of them:
- Subjective feeling of heartbeat or compression in the heart. At the same time, the pulse can remain normally, but a person feels a strong heartbeat. Elevated blood pressure may be celebrated
- Sweating, heat or cold waves
- Shivering and shaking, chills
- Sensation of the lack of air or choking, the feeling of overlapping breathing, pain or discomfort in the chest
- Nausea or strong reactions in the stomach
- Feeling of dizziness with threat of stability loss
- The feeling of cutoff from itself, the unreality of its own body, the unreality of what is happening around
- Fear to go crazy, the fear of losing control, the fear of committing an uncontrollable act or fear of death
Atypical attack of panic attack, except the above, can manifest themselves as the following symptoms:
- Feeling «Coma in the throat»;
- Feeling of weakness in hand or leg;
- Violation of vision or hearing;
- Gait violation;
- Violation of speech or voice;
- Loss of consciousness;
- Cramps in hand or legs;
- Feeling that the body is wounded;
- Nausea or vomit;
Thoughts during panic attack
The most frequent thoughts with panic attacks: «I'm afraid to lose control», «I'm afraid to go crazy», «I have a heart attack», «I'm afraid to die», «I look stupid». A person gives the symptoms of panic attack his personal sense, it is prompted to remember and remembers them, thereby repeating frightening thoughts, which leads to anxiety. Thus, a vicious spiral is formed «Thoughts feelings», And the fear of fear appears.
Intergreacy period
The interconcenetary period with panic attacks can have a different length, from several hours to several weeks or even months. However, it is characterized by the following symptoms:
- Permanent expectation of a new panic attack
- Frequent repetitive thoughts about what happened
- Fear of the fact that the attack may arise at any moment
- Cardiophobia (fear of death from heart stop), strokefobia
- Avoiding situations that can cause a panic attack attack
- Changing the common pattern of behavior
- Reduced portability of physical exertion changes the mode and imposes restrictions on many activities
- Increased attention to their bodily signals
- The presence in the purse of the drugs, which, according to the patient, will be able to help him
- Gradual formation of depression.
Features of people suffering from panic attacks
People with panic attacks more than others are sensitive to bodily signals. The fact that one person will call a feeling of discomfort or tension (for example, in the abdomen), the other will call the unbearable pain and describe all its nuances.
Often panic attacks are combined with various phobias:
- Fear of people accumulation (transport, crowd, festive city festivities)
- Fear of open space (hangars, supermarkets)
- Fear of closed spaces (elevator, rooms without windows)
- Fear of walk
- Fear of the street
All of the listed phobias significantly worsen the social activity of a person, limit its living space, make the lifestyle change. Life in the power of fears, in the constant waiting for the development of the attack, sometimes changes the person beyond recognition.
In addition, such people are under the constant and usual pressure of stress, which they no longer notice, because he became their everyday reality.
People suffering from panic attacks, less than others tend to pronounce their feelings and declare their needs. There are two reasons for that:
- The first reason, They do not hope that someone will hear them, and therefore they give to know close people about their mental disadvantages in such a painful way. After all, it is no secret that in our culture it is customary to pay attention to those who suffer from physical ailments, and psychological discomfort is considered «Blazhew», on which you should not pay attention.
- The second reason It lies in the fact that a person himself is not aware of his psychological needs and feelings, cannot formulate them, tell them another. This is what is called Aleksitimia, which becomes the cause of not only panic attacks, but also serious psychosomatic diseases.
Treatment of panic attacks
After the first panic attack, the person himself begins to seek the help and appeals first, as a rule, to the therapist, a cardiologist who does not detect in its field of disorders that could have serve as a patient's complaints. And at best, it is recommended to visit the psychotherapist, and at worst — treat non-existent diseases or bred hands and give «banal» Recommendation: More relaxing, play sports, not nervous, drink vitamins, Valerian or Novopalsit.
But the case, unfortunately, is not limited to… The first attacks leave an indelible mark in the memory of the patient, which leads to the appearance of syndrome «Expectations» Attack, which, in turn, enshrines the repeatability of attacks. Repetition of attacks in similar situations (transport, elevator, escalator, stay in the crowd and T. D.), contributes to the formation of restrictive behavior, that is, avoiding potentially dangerous, places and situations.
Treatment of panic attacks in the Riesbish railway hospital, leads by a group of specialists (psycho-physicist, neurologist, physiotherapist)
What diseases need to be excluded with panic attacks
Panic attack itself can not represent a symptom of another disease. Analyze it can only doctor. At the diagnostic phase, it is important to eliminate the following diseases:
- Cardiovascular pathology, primarily ischemic heart disease, arrhythmia, arterial hypertension
- Bronchial asthma
- The pathology of the thyroid gland.
- Epilepsy
- Age hormonal changes
Principles of Treatment of Panic Attacks
Before the beginning of the treatment of panic attack, the psycho-physiologist explains the client what a panic attack is.E. Provides information, and only after that they together choose the tactics of treatment. There are two approach that do not exclude each other to the treatment of panic attacks:
- Psychotherapeutic
- Pharmacological
Psychotherapeutic treatment
With a psychotherapeutic approach, the patient together with the psychophysiologist choose the purpose and methods of treatment: symptomatic psychotherapy, aimed only to eliminate symptoms or deep psychotherapy aimed at finding and eliminating unconscious reasons for disorder.
With behavioral, or symptomatic approach, the goal - to teach a person to cope with panic attacks on their own. For this, there are techniques that allow the client to reduce the level of fear directly during the attack and helps reduce the alarming premonition. First, the client is studying for this in the office of the psychophysiologist, and after it uses the surveyed skills in a panic attack situation in order to reduce phobic avoidance.. In addition, the psycho-physiologist gives concrete recommendations what to do and what not to do. For example, how not to escape from the situation where the panic attack began, t.To. it takes up the next attack. Each patient receives an individual, jointly developed action program.
Panic attacks are complicated by the fact that a person tries to escape from the situation where the attack begins. This brings temporary relief, but in the next attack negative thoughts and bodily symptoms are only enhanced.
With deep psychotherapy, in addition to developing behavioral skills during a panic attack, the client together with a psychophysiologist analyzes possible causes of disorder. Like any symptom, panic attack is a sign of disadvantaged, but not bodily (as it seems at first glance), and psychological.
This is a signal of unsatisfied needs and unseen feelings. In depth psychotherapy, the patient's personal and family history is investigated, its relationship with significant people. In case of behavioral approach, the symptom is considered only as the top of the iceberg, and with deep – Its foundation. See it alone is either impossible or very hard. It is here that the skills and support of the psychophysiologist will be able to help.
Pharmacological approach
With drug therapy, panic attacks are treated with anti-leaving antidepressants. The antidepressants of the SSIOS group are used — For a long time, not less than 6 months and tranquilizers, short course — up to 14 days. Long and regular taking antidepressants Contrary to widespread misconception and addiction and dependence.
The use of so-called vegetotropic drugs (anaprilin, Pirroxyan, Belloid, Bellaspon) in combination with vascular metabolic therapy (zinnarizin, Cavinton, Trental, Nootropyl, piracetam, cerebralizin) is ineffective, which in turn undermines faith in the possibility of cure and promotes the chronization of the disease.
The patient has the right to decide what the path of treatment will he choose, while one does not exclude the other. If the client is not configured for long analytical work and requires a speedy elimination of the symptom, it is possible to conclude an agreement that if the symptomatics appears again, the psycho-physiologist and the patient will move to the study of the deep reasons for panic attacks.
Important! The greatest performance in the treatment of panic attacks gives a combination of drug therapy and psychotherapy. Remember that panic attacks, like any other symptom of stress, curable.
