Main content
Health and medicine
Course: Health and medicine > Unit 9
Lesson 8: Anxiety and related disordersPanic disorder
Visit us (http://www.khanacademy.org/science/healthcare-and-medicine) for health and medicine content or (http://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat) for MCAT related content.
These videos do not provide medical advice and are for informational purposes only. The videos are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen in any Khan Academy video. Created by Tanner Marshall.
Want to join the conversation?
- How many people a year in America have panic attacks?(3 votes)
- This article tells you the statistics: http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics(2 votes)
- at, anti-seizure medication may be prescribed. why? what do they have in common with the other medications? how does it relate to panic attacks? 5:09(2 votes)
- It is because 60% of people affected by panic attack also have seizures.(2 votes)
- What if a person who is diagnosed to have a panic attack uses that as an excuse to get things done their way? Is it a mental disorder to use the mental disorder in order to get things done their way or is it just a personal behavioural issue?(1 vote)
- Pretending to be sick in order to get treated as such is called Munchausen's syndrome.(2 votes)
- what if you have one panic attack, but not another?(1 vote)
- Usually it means that either you've had other small panic attacks and don't notice, or it was caused by something stressful or a stressful/scary environment. It could also mean that you had panic disorder for such a short period of time that you only had one, but that's extremely unlikely.(1 vote)
- Can remembering things cause a panic attack?(1 vote)
- Yes, if the memory is associated with a trauma it can easily cause a panic attack. An example is those diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The symptoms are associated with difficult memories of a trauma that cause flashbacks which can trigger panic attacks and other symptoms.(1 vote)
- So they have NO clue how panic attacks start? Say you are going to like the mall with one of your friends(who I am just going to call the friend Joe), and Joe invites some of his friends. Is it regular to feel like you would want to go home because you are afraid of being judged? Or is it something else?(0 votes)
- I used to get them by thinking about something that made me anxious. Or seeing something that reminded me what I was scared of.
So yeah, usually there is a trigger.(2 votes)
- at, Tanner said that women have more panic attacks than men. why is this? 2:44(1 vote)
- Because of society's pressures to be skinny, look pretty, ect.(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Someone with panic disorder has frequent and repeated episodes of something called panic attacks. These panic attacks are
periods of intense fear and discomfort that
something bad's gonna happen. These panic attacks can
happen even in familiar places where no real threats exist. They usually come about suddenly and peak within the
first 10 to 20 minutes. But sometimes symptoms can
last for an hour or more. People having a panic attack feel like there's some real threat or danger. And when we feel this way, our bodies react accordingly, right. This reaction could be
so severe and so intense that some people having panic attacks feel as if they're having a heart attack or some other life-threatening illness when they're actually not. Symptoms that might come
about during a panic attack are things like chest pain or discomfort, dizziness, fear of dying, losing
control, or impending doom, feelings of choking,
detachment, or unreality, nausea or upset stomach, numbness or tingling in
the hands, feet, or face, palpitations, which is like this feeling that your heart's pounding, a shortness of breath, sweating, chills or hot flashes, and trembling. If you experience four or
more of any of these symptoms, you might be diagnosed
with a panic disorder. Unfortunately, panic
attacks can't be predicted and often happen without any particular trigger being involved. With that said, it's
important to have treated as soon as possible before the patient starts to avoid places where
they've happened in the past, which is called avoidance. And this is where a patient
that's had a panic attack before stops doing activities that they think trigger the panic attacks. For example, if someone has a panic attack while they're in an elevator, they might think that that
elevator triggered the attack. And so they'll start
avoiding going on elevators. Although this might help temporarily with the fear of attack
and loss of control, it makes normal daily
life extremely difficult and doesn't usually even stop
the attacks from happening. Along the same lines,
somebody might develop anxiety just thinking about the possibility of having a panic attack. And this is called anticipatory anxiety. This can result in the
person becoming reclusive and choosing to endure the attacks alone rather than in public, where they think there's
no chance of escape and slight chance of help. Sometimes this can lead to the development of a specific phobia called agoraphobia, which is a fear of being in
public or crowded spaces. Like I mentioned, though, the
cause of each panic attack usually isn't linked to
any specific trigger. And the cause of having panic disorder in general is unknown. Though it's been found to run in families, which hints at there being
some sort of genetic component, also about twice as many women as men experience panic disorder, though there hasn't been
found to be any differences between ethnic, economic,
or geographic backgrounds. Usually panic disorder
starts in the patient's 20s. And sometimes a stressful
event comes before the disorder and triggers the first attack. But usually there aren't
any specific events to associate with the attacks. Once it's been diagnosed by
a mental health professional, many patients will seek treatment. And like most other mental disorders, this involves either
psychotherapy, medication, or both, depending on what that particular
patient responds best to. Now, cognitive behavior therapy,
a form of psychotherapy, is typically very effective and consists of five fundamentals when
applied to panic disorder. In the first stage,
called the learning stage, the patient learns about panic disorder, including how to identify the symptoms. They also go over the treatment plan. And then in the second stage, which is called the monitoring stage, the patient will keep a diary
to monitor the panic attacks and record any situations
that might produce anxiety. In the third stage called
the breathing stage, they'll learn relaxation techniques to control breathing and help combat the physical reactions of a panic attack. And the fourth stage is called rethinking where the therapist helps the
patient change their beliefs about the physical symptoms
from totally catastrophic to something more
realistic and less harmful. And finally, in the exposing stage, the therapist helps the
patient expose themselves to situations that cause
frightening physical sensation and gradually increases
the intensity level so that the patient starts to
feel more and more comfortable being around whatever it is
that produces the anxiety and hopefully will reduce the likelihood of having a panic attack in the future. Besides cognitive
behavior therapy, though, there are also medications
that can be prescribed. If these are chosen, antidepressants like selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs are the most commonly
prescribed medications for panic attacks. Anti-anxiety medications can
sometimes also be prescribed like benzodiazepines. And these will tend to have this calming and relaxing effect, although these are
typically less preferred, since there's a higher
risk of becoming dependent. Finally, anti-seizure medications
can also be prescribed in very severe cases. Overall, between these treatment options, many patients that get
appropriate psychiatric care can recover and return to
normal life activities.