Anxiety and Panic Attacks: What’s the Difference?
Anxiety is never fun, but it can sometimes be a relatively necessary emotion. Still, when anxiety escalates, it can wreak havoc on everyday life. There is also a fair amount of misinformation regarding the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack. Banyan Treatment Center Pompano Beach compares the two and offers ways to help afflicted people learn how to deal with these troubling symptoms.
The difference between panic attacks and anxiety
Although they are often confused with each other, there is a fundamental difference that separates panic attacks and anxiety. Regardless of the condition a person is suffering from, they are encouraged to seek treatment if it interferes with their daily lives.
Panic Attack Facts
A panic attack is a sudden, intense attack of fear. This fear can be overwhelming and can hold you back. Distressing physical symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea, and increased heart rate are key aspects of this. These attacks may occur without any apparent cause or may be triggered by stressors such as phobias. For example, someone may suddenly have a panic attack at work. Others may experience it after being severely reprimanded by upper management.
In any case, this attack occurs suddenly and, if intense enough, can incapacitate a person. In a sense, it is the person’s fight or flight instinct in action, often in scenarios that do not require such a reaction at all. This means that the physical symptoms a person deals with are likely to be more intense than they would be if they experienced general anxiety.
facts about anxiety
on the other hand, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) recognizes panic attacks, but not anxiety attacks.
Rather, it defines anxiety as a feature of many other psychiatric disorders, including:
- social anxiety disorder
- phobia
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- generalized anxiety disorder
- separation anxiety disorder
Many of the symptoms of anxiety are open to interpretation due to the lack of diagnostic awareness of the associated seizures. By itself, anxiety is associated with stressful events and scenarios. It can be debilitating to those still experiencing it, it can inhibit their ability to interact with others and the world around them, and it can even keep them up throughout the night.
Additionally, anxiety comes in varying degrees of severity, with some people experiencing mild or moderate anxiety, while others experience more severe symptoms. rather, it happens gradually.
Importance of treatment
Regardless of the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack, if your symptoms are interfering with your ability to function, we recommend that you seek treatment at the Pompano Beach Treatment Center. getting worse, Comorbid addictionThis often occurs when people seeking relief from their symptoms self-medicate by taking addictive substances.
Fortunately, Banyan offers both. Addiction and Mental Health Treatment At Pompano who can help afflicted people find the healing they are looking for. We offer a path to recovery. A phone call might fix it.
Learn about the rest of Broward County mental health services Please contact us by phone. 888-280-4763 Talk to an Intake Specialist today.
Related Documents
Effects of anxiety on the brain
What triggers an anxiety attack?
