If you or one of your loved ones ever suffered from an anxiety attack, or a panic attack, you may be very intersted in knowing just why this is happening. What exactly is happening to the brain leading up to a panic attack?
A recent study published in the journal Science (2007), demonstrated that when people experience extreme anxiety or panic, the activity in their brain moves from the front of their brain to the mid brain. Scans show higher blood flow to the section of the brain that is most active. Your decision making and rationalization takes place in the front of the brain (prefrontal cortex. While the midbrain (periaqueductal) is where survival mechanisms such as fight or flight originate from.
Shortness of breath and a panic attack is a \'fight or flight\' response to a perceived threat. But why would we even respond in this manner? The reason our brain responds like this goes back to our prehistoric past where humans needed their bodies to respond quickly to a perceived physical threat for survival. A person\'s mental activity during a panic attack is suddenly moving to the mid brain, resulting in the heightened state of fear and panic. To sum it up, a separate part of your brain becomes more active during a panic attack.
So, once the panic attack begins and that progressed state of fear starts in, it is too hard for a lot of people to calm it down again. In order to restore calmness the brains mental activity needs to calm down again. Now you may understand why deep breathing is so ineffective in helping people control a panic attack. Deep breathing is trying to restore calmness to the body, but not to the brain.
I found it very interesting when I understood that your brain is the control center, and that is where the change needs to take place. During this panic attack your brain moves into panic mode, but to restore order you need to learn how to switch your mental activity back to the rational part of your brain. But learning how to do this isn\'t enough. You need to learn the technique that will allow you to do this in a split second, no matter where you are or what you are in the middle of doing.
In theory, when a person feels reassured again that they are in a safe place, this mental activity heads back to the forebrain.There is finally a technique that can move mental activity away from the impulsive mid brain and back to the forebrain.
Maybe the average person doesn\'t need to know all this. But I think it clears up a lot to anyone suffering for some time with anxiety attacks. And if it enables you to grasp the concept, and you eliminate your panic attacks, it is worth knowing how your brain reacts to panic. You will also be taught how to eliminate a persons general anxiety you may be feel during a regular day.
