Anatomy of a Panic Attack

Most people with anxiety disorders like agoraphobia are oversensitive to adrenaline which means they are more likely to have an adrenaline rush. This adrenaline rush is often called the "fight or flight" response, named after its function in primitive times. Understanding the "fight or flight" response is helpful in understanding where panic attacks come from.

Before we locked up the animals in zoos and started shopping for our food at supermarkets, our prehistoric ancestors lived a little closer to wild beasts and hunted for their meat. When attacked by beasts they couldn’t easily kill, our ancestors needed either extra strength to defend themselves or extra energy for running to get away. That’s why we, as humans, are wired with a “fight or flight” response that is triggered when we are threatened. It was originally designed to save our lives.

When our “fight or flight” response is triggered by something that threatens or scares us, adrenaline rushes into the bloodstream to give us added strength to either fight off the threat or run from it. In addition, the body shuts down non-essential activity to conserve energy for the situation at hand. In other words, our body has a rush of extra energy because it is saving energy by not doing things it doesn’t absolutely need to do to sustain life.

The adjustments your body makes during the “fight or flight” response are:

• Your heart beats faster to pump more blood into your muscles for extra strength while fighting.

• Your breathing gets faster and deeper to increase the supply of oxygen.

• Your muscles get tight to prepare for action.

• You experience a cold sweat to prepare for the warmer sweat that will come with activity.

• Blood vessels near the surface of the body constrict to reduce blood loss if you are wounded.

• You shiver and your hairs stand up to conserve heat and to keep the body from getting too cold when the peripheral blood vessels constrict.

• Your pupils dilate so you can see the danger more clearly.

• Your digestive system shuts down and the extra blood goes to the voluntary muscles.

• Your mouth gets dry because your saliva flow decreases when the digestive system shuts down.

• You may feel the need to empty your bladder and bowels to be freer for physical activity.

All of these bodily changes helped our ancestors do things like club a bear for food or run from a tiger to save their life.
In today’s more civilized society, most threats we face are psychological, not physical. In the case of anxiety disorders, our own thoughts can scare us. The problem is that a psychological threat can trigger the same “fight or flight” response as a physical threat, but the bodily changes aren’t needed for self-preservation. They just make you uncomfortable and you feel worse.

In modern times we have pretty much renamed the “fight or flight” response. We call it a panic attack.

Since most of us who have anxiety disorders like agoraphobia have developed an over-reactive “fight or flight” response, we have lots of panic attacks. A panic attack is a lot less exciting and a far less glorious picture than fighting or fleeing from a wild animal.

This leftover mechanism of the nervous system, designed to save our lives in cave-dwelling times is a nuisance to us in the modern world. Unless you really need to run from a wild animal or vicious attacker, the adrenaline can be overwhelming and make you feel like your body is going to jump out of control. The rapid breathing serves no purpose if you are not running from anything and is just needless “hyperventilating.”

Neither being overwhelmed by adrenaline nor hyperventilating are good feelings, especially if you are trying to appear calm and under control in an office or classroom.

Needless to say, the primitive "fight or flight" response has all but outlived its purpose. Learning how to control this response is important for recovering from agoraphobia or any other anxiety disorder that features frequent panic attacks.

Article Source: http://www.agoraphobia.net

Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic with an informational website on agoraphobia. It is found on the web at: www.agoraphobia.ws

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