By Britta Schmeis Jul 10, 2006, 12:38 GMT
Munich/Hamburg A panic attack can happen anywhere. It's constantly in the background and when it strikes, the heart rate shoots up.
People affected have an uncontrollable and unexplained desire to flee.
It's mainly young people who suffer from this complaint. The feeling of panic can occur without notice. Women are more often affected than men.
Panic attacks often happen in phases of great change in the affected person's life. But professionals can help patients to deal with their feelings of anxiety.
'Fear is basically a good thing because it leads to a flight or fight reaction in dangerous situations,' says the psychologist Anne Karow of the University of Eppendorf in Hamburg.
Her colleague Angelika Erhardt, who is a member of a research group at the Max-Planck Institute in Munich studying anxiety, adds that almost all forms of fear are accompanied by physical symptoms such as perspiration, shivering or heart palpitations.
The condition has become an illness when these symptoms occur without any reason.
'Although there appears to be no cause, these people can suddenly suffer an anxiety attack,' says Erhardt.
Such panic attacks are often accompanied by agoraphobia. 'That is when someone has a fear of crowded situations or feels unable to cope and runs to a place where they feel safe,' explains Hans-Martin Hartmann of the Anxiety Centre in Berlin.
Another factor to consider is the anxiety that comes before the panic attack sets in. 'The affected person is continually fearful they will suffer an attack and they avoid specific situations,' says Hartmann.
The condition can become so bad that some people lose control of their daily lives because they no longer feel they can cope with their own and others' expectations.
'People with anxiety disorders often make very high demands upon themselves,' says Karow.
In many conflicting situations, the affected person can lose control of their emotions and needs, according to Hartmann. In that case, the person's psyche begins to look for a way out of the situation through a physical ailment.
People with anxiety often feel unable to cope, are under extreme strain and are afraid of responsibility. A survey by the Munich Anxiety Centre revealed that people mostly affected are between 20 and 30 years of age and are likely to be female.
Many therapists say they have noticed that anxiety disorders often appear during phases of great disorder in their patients' lives.
'The causes of panic attacks have not been sufficiently researched,' says Erhardt. In most cases genetic, neurological and environmental factors play a role.
A complex condition such as this requires a combination of different therapies. 'Mild anti-depressants and outpatient treatment are required in most cases,' explains Erhardt.
Patients learn how to deal with their fears during therapy sessions. Tension has to be reduced to allow the person to function normally once again, according to Karow.
Hans-Martin Hartmann does not believe that confrontation therapy is the best way to treat the condition. 'The patient should be helped at a deep psychological level instead,' he says.
Patients have a choice of outpatient or ward treatments.
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