The first time a panic attack hits you it will usually come like a bolt from the blue. Most people are totally unprepared for their first panic attack and it can cause considerable shock resulting in fear. Let's look at how panic attacks and fear are related…

What is Fear?

In a very general sense we can think of fear as our autonomic nervous systems reaction to an unknown stimulus that appears to present some danger to our person. This is the trigger for the ‘fight or flight' condition of human survival. Fear is the psychological reaction we feel when our body initiates our auto-defence response. The adrenalin that is pumped through our bodies is initiated by our physical reaction to our fear. The greater the fear the more we react physically. We have all heard the expression "I was sick with fear" which indicates just how powerful the chemicals we generate from our fear can be.

Fear and Panic

Mild fear is very normal and an experience we have virtually every single day. There are not many days that go by when all of us doesn't receive some little shock or surprise which causes us a moment of fear. Walking around a corner and bumping into someone is an example of a mild jolt of our fear mechanism at work. Usually, in these mild situations our brain is quick to realise the lack of danger and quickly return us to a normal state; the fear or feeling of surprise passes quite quickly.

However, if there is a continuing sense of danger then our bodies continue to react and produce adrenalin which heightens our fear level even more as we prepare to run or fight for our life. This heightened state of adrenalin fuelled readiness can quite easily tip over into a full blown panic attack. This is very likely to happen if there is no obvious cause of our fear and we cannot identify the source of our perceived imminent danger. This lack of information to rationalise our reaction tends to elevate the problem further causing us to panic due to the unknown factors we perceive to be real danger.

Panic fuels fear – fear fuels panic

Once we find ourselves terrified and in a state of panic we have entered a potentially self-fuelling vicious circle. Our fear boosts our panic and more panic causes more fear; we go around and around. This is why once a panic attack has hit someone fully they are often difficult to control and certainly very difficult to rationalise with because they cannot think rationally due to the panic and fear.

At this stage of a panic attack it is very important to receive help from someone because the first thing you need is to have someone to rely on. You need to be reassured that there really isn't any immediate danger in order for you to halt the panic-fear cycle. Once this is achieved you then need to be able to bring your panic and then fear under control. The last stage is to return your body to normal by coming down from the adrenalin fuelled condition you are in. The simple ‘stop the panic attack' breathing exercise can help with this process.