Panic Disorder

Panic Disorder – General Information

Panic Disorder – Symptoms

Panic Disorder – Treatment

Panic Disorder is a disabling disease, but is curable, controlled and treated. This type of disease cause disturbing symptoms, and can be easily mistaken with a life threatening physical disease, and this kind of confusion leads to the aggravation of the disorder and provokes other future attacks. When a patient has a first panic attack, he first goes to a hospital emergency room, where he’s medical tested to determine the cause of the panic attacks, to prevent other further anxiety. Usually these tests identify the cause of the symptoms, being uncommon the cases in which the cause weren’t been underlined. Some patients suffering with Panic Disorder have preferred medications in combination with a type of psychotherapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy. psychologists, mental health counselors, and social workers. To start a medical treatment for this type of disorder, the patient should visit a medical doctor, especially a psychiatrist. Psychotherapy is in most of the cases provided by a clinical counselor, called a psychologist, and a psychiatrist is more specialized than a general practice physician in prescribing pharmacological treatment and it is considered to be the first choice.

The medication treatment for Panic Disorder is applied to separate connections that take place between a phobia and the panic attacks, and in this kind of treatment takes part antidepressants and anti-anxiety drug, called benzodiazepines. Antidepressants are taken regularly, every day, and help to build a resistance to the any symptoms that can occur. Usually, this type of treatment is prescribed as antidepressants, but, in fact, they can have the properties of anti panic medications, because the symptoms of this disorder aren’t related with a depression, and by calling them antidepressants, the patient doesn’t believe that are targeted to his symptoms. A combination of these medications with psychotherapy is considered more effective in most of the cases.

Anti anxiety drugs, called also benzodiazepines, are taken during a panic attack or before any other anxiety situations. Some patients take them daily only to prevent any panic attacks to appear. These drugs aren’t the first choice for the doctors, because they can form habits, and are considered to be more effective in the first stage of the medical treatment, when the organism can’t resist to antidepressants, and, gradually, are utilized less and less that the psychotherapy and antidepressants can be more effective. There is also a Panic Disorder Treatment that doesn’t involves medications, and consists in the exposure to the phobia, and after multiple exposures, there will not be any panic attacks and breaks the phobia panic pattern, improving the patient’s condition. But, there are little phobias the can appear as a result of the panic attack, and can be eliminated by a simple procedure, called cognitive behavioral therapy or, again the exposure can be applied. Other types in treating the Panic Disorder include journaling, and consists in recording the patient’s activities, day by day, to find a way to deal with their personal phobias. Diaphragmatic breathing can help the patient doing breathing exercises.