Those who have experienced a genuine panic attack know that it’s unlike what people who have not been through them think. The term “panic attack” does not simply mean a few moments of elevated stress.
A true panic attack is disabling in the moment, and sufferers experience a level of fear, often outright terror, that is hard to understand for anyone who has not suffered such an event. One of the most common though false fears that sufferers experience is the belief that they are having a heart attack, or that they are losing control of their body, or that they are losing their minds.
Those who have experienced panic attacks will often say it is worse when they happen in public, and that’s what happened last week to an Australian news weatherman. Meteorologist Nate Byrne of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation felt one coming on during his live on-air segment and quickly turned the show over to another colleague.
With unusual smoothness, Byrne told the audience what was happening as it occurred. He said that some viewers may know that he has occasional panic attacks, and that one was happening at the moment, so he was going to turn the broadcast over to a colleague.
Panic attacks are not actually life threatening, though they feel that way to those experiencing them in the moment. Remarking on the incident, a Chapel Hill, North Carolina psychologist was impressed with the staff at the Australian network. Dr. Reid Wilson said Nate Byrne’s coworkers “did a great job supporting him.” He said that Byrne’s openness about his anxiety disorder had helped create the conditions at work that allowed his colleagues to step in while he took a break to recover.
The American Psychological Association describes a panic attack as a sudden surge of fear that’s out of proportion to any real danger. It activates the body’s “fight or flight” reflex, causing the heart to race. Many people have difficulty breathing, they shake uncontrollably, and they have an impending sense of doom.
The experience is so severe for many that what is called “anticipatory anxiety” sets in. This is a fear of future panic attacks that, frustratingly, can make future attacks more likely.
While they are frightening, panic attacks are self-limiting and usually end within a few minutes to a half-hour. Sufferers are advised to try to breathe slowly and in a controlled fashion, while acknowledging to themselves that they are having an anxiety attack and that it will end.
