Panic and Anxiety attacks can be horrifying experiences and are much more common place than the person who suffers from them thinks. Depending on what research you read they either strike more than 10 million people or affect as many as 15% of all adults. Whichever number is looked at. I am sure you will agree with me that this problem that effects women more than men is massive.

Anxiety and Panic disorders becomes classified as a mental illness when the condition causes enough distress to reduce ones ability to function socially, occupationally, or psychologically. During a panic attack, unless you were medically educated, you might think you were having a heart attack, or some other form of medical crisis. Although when they get to this level they are both considered psychiatric conditions, they can be the easiest of all to treat and in most cases are highly treatable. Anxiety and panic attacks are an emotional and physical reaction to a threat, whether that threat is real or perceived. The attacks are often associated with shallow, rapid patterns of breathing and can respond to muscle relaxation techniques and breathing exercises that form a part of many complementary therapies.

It doesn’t matter from what walk of life you come from anxiety and panic attacks are non discriminatory and they appear in situations where your usual skills and talents seem to make no difference, so telling yourself to calm down, doesn’t work that well. The attacks seem to be self-perpetuating and they need prompt and effective intervention. Although anxiety and panic attacks are similar, panic attacks are more high pitched than anxiety.

Anxiety and panic attacks are very frightening and very real to the person suffering the attack and no matter what anybody says they are medical conditions as real to the person as if they were suffering from heart disease. Although they are very scary once you stop letting the fears take over, you’ll feel more in control. This is the first stage in getting better. You may be particularly vulnerable to anxiety and panic attacks if you are suffering from medical conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, severe pain or medical obesity.

Symptoms can include but are not limited to are: Rapid heart beat, palpitations (awareness of your heart beating), raised blood pressure feeling of tightness in the chest, breathlessness and hyperventilation (rapid, shallow breathing) sweating, pallor, chest pains, feelings of light-headedness and dizziness. Shaking and trembling pins and needles (caused by hyperventilation) usually in hands or feet. Feeling of intense fear and/or impending doom headaches and muscular aches and pains. Insomnia, irritability, nightmares fatigue digestive disturbances, e.g.nausea and/or vomiting, abdominal pain anddiarrhoea. Feeling cut off from yourself and other people, fear of dying, desensitization, depersonalization, feeling of unreality, depression, numbness and difficulty falling or staying asleep. symptoms of panic attacks, feelings of unreality, bodily sensations, body muscles, nausea and diarrhoea, natural instinct, flight reaction, derealisation, muscle tension, abdominal distress, tightness in chest, pounding heart,

Anxiety and panic attacks are a relatively short period of very intense fear and can start with an unpleasant feeling in the throat and a sudden shortness of breath. Anxiety and panic attacks usually last for 10 minutes but more severe attacks may last up to two hours. They may be part of an underlying anxiety disorder such as phobias (irrational fear of, for example, crowds or open spaces), obsessive compulsive disorder (recurrent thoughts and repetitive behaviour), post-traumatic stress, depression or other psychological problems. Or anxiety can come about as a result of pressure at work, in school, at home or even when having a major event or change in your life like death of loved one or divorce.

Anxiety and panic attacks are disorders and although you might be able to put a quick fix together during attacks it is important that you find treatment to free yourself from this disorder and eliminate anxiety and panic attacks permanently. Anxiety medication may not work as it may mask the symptoms and when you stop taking the medication the attacks generally flare back up again. Ultimately because anxiety medication is superficial, it doesn’t treat the root cause of your anxiety.

People who have anxiety often have a sense of fear. A series of voluntary and involuntary, will be held in the body, and the goal of these processes is that the body was the source that is causing anxiety to have. Anxiety is an important emotion, and is designed to increase the survival rate of organisms. In humans, it appears that anxiety comes from the amygdala and hippocampus, two brain regions. Detects when a person smells or tastes bad, there will be a large amount of blood flow to be present in the amygdala. The evidence also showed that average levels of anxiety are presented in this situation too.

Based on these studies, it seems that anxiety is designed for humans and other organisms from eating food or objects that may be harmful to their welfare. While anxiety is normal, a person who has excessive amounts of which can have what’s called an anxiety disorder. In extreme cases, people with anxiety disorders may have strong where they are terrorized. Anxiety disorders are subdivided into phobias, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Someone who suffers from a phobia will have an abnormal amount of fear of a specific object or situation. People who have phobias tend to have a broad imagination, and realize that their fear is often irrational.

When a person suffers from a panic disorder, panic attacks will end, and may have trouble breathing or dizziness. These attacks are usually reached its height in about 10 minutes. Generalized anxiety disorders are common, and a much larger proportion of the population. It is common in men and women and is characterized by long periods of anxiety that are not related to any specific object or situation. With obsessive compulsive disorder, the individual has a compulsion or obsession when it comes to specific types of behavior. People who suffer from this disorder is the obsessive need to do something to reduce their anxiety.

Many people with this disorder must be very clean, and are afraid of germs. To reduce your anxiety, wash their hands many times in one day. There are two main methods that are used to help those suffering from anxiety, and that is whether the therapy or prescription medicaitons.

All these things combined drive a person to the use of anti-depressants and other medications. Anti-depressants have been quite popular in treating stress related diseases in the past and to an extent even now. Taking pills is a commonly observed scene across the world now. Nevertheless, is it the correct way out? Is there any other alternative to it?

Millions of people across the globe have been taking anti-depressants for years and are if not completely satisfied. However, anti-depressants take at least a few weeks to act on our body and a significant number of people taking these drugs are not very satisfied.

The biggest problem with the general physicians is that they have very little training in the field of anxiety and panic situations treatments. Thus, it does not become difficult only for the patient but also the doctor to prescribe drugs under such circumstances.

The point here is that it is not difficult to deal with cases of high cholesterol or blood pressure or high blood sugar etc. the doctor can prescribe any particular treatment for any of these diseases because there are established standards. You can take a few pills and it will come under control. However, unlike all these depression and anxiety is a very complicated illness. It cannot be analysed in a matter of a few hours and tests. The treatment for such illnesses can go on for up to a few months or years and even the medication goes on for an equally long time. Treatment could be very clearly inferred from here, since the results for this kind of illness are not instantaneous.

The important thing in dealing with such cases is the knowledge of the physician. The physician dealing with such kinds of cases must be well informed of the past and all the other related events in connection with the patient. He must also be well informed of the past illnesses and medication prescribed. It is the responsibility of the doctor that he must not make the patient entirely dependant on drugs. He should also encourage the patient to undergo psychotherapy as the main course of recovery and drugs should be used as a secondary curing agent.

Latest trends have proven that when psychotherapy and drugs are used together, they have a far more beneficial result than with pills alone. In addition, in most of the cases of mild attack only psychotherapy should be prescribed. This would also help in keeping the patient away from otherwise almost addictive anti-anxiety, anti-panic drugs.

Panic and anxiety lead to depression at a later stage and are the most common causes of suicides. Most of the teenage suicide cases have been largely due to the factors. As such, we do not see suicides as an innate part of depression but it is the end result in many a cases.

Conclusion

But at the end of the day it is up to you to decide whether you want to take these anti-depressant and anti-anxiety pills or not, but you must weigh the pros and cons of these medicines before taking any further steps. You must consult not just your doctor but also your parents, your friends, your spouse before making a final decision. Above all, you must be totally convinced of your state before going in for any kind of therapy.

Both stress and anxiety are normal reactions in our body in response to stressful situations in life. They are temporary events that disappear once those perceived threats and pressures are gone. However, should they stay longer than normal, then it regressed to some form of depression.

How to Overcome Stress and Anxiety to Prevent Depression? Let us first understand why do you have this feeling of stress and anxiety? Anxiety is a symptom of the presence of doubt, and when there is doubt, fear grips in. When fear grips in, anxiety comes in. All these; doubt, fear, and anxiety are manifestations of a negative mental attitude, attracting more negative things to happen. The more intense the anxiety, the more the thing that you feared of, will likely to happen. Why? Because of the Law of Attraction; the more you think and feel about it, the more you will get it; in other words, whatever you resist, persists.

So the best thing to overcome anxiety is to overcome your negative mental attitude. Have you noticed that when there is something that you do not like to happen, will more likely to happen? An example of this is when you were in school; when the teacher calls randomly for somebody to present in front of the class, you do not want to present because you are not prepared, or you are not confident to present; what do you feel? You feel anxious, anxious that you might be called. And the more anxious you become, the more likely that you will be called. And if you were very anxious enough, then definitely, you were called.

In the Law of Attraction, the process starts with having a thought of what you want, then this thought transform into desire to have what you want. Desire is an emotion, powerful enough to lead you to action until you get what you what. Anxiety is already an emotion, a powerful feeling that will lead you to your dominant negative thought-that something you feared of.

How then do you overcome your negative mental attitude? To overcome a negative mental attitude is to have a positive mental attitude. You can not overcome a negative mental attitude with a negative mental attitude. Let me give you an example: As I browsed the Google keyword, I noticed that a lot of people searched the Google about anxiety, about 4 million searches in one month, compared to happiness at about a million in a month. Both of these groups of people who searched for anxiety and happiness, are more likely to be suffering from anxiety or depression. If you are happy, why would you search for happiness on the internet on the first place? The difference between these groups of people is their approach, or how they managed their anxiety. 4 million tried to manage their anxiety by learning more about anxiety. What do they get? They end up feeding their thoughts more about anxiety, stories of people with anxiety, and so on. They end up attracting more negative forces to them and become more anxious. On the other hand, those people who tried to battle their anxiety by cultivating their thoughts with happy thoughts; happy moments; stories about happiness; and surrounding themselves with happy people; are more likely to succeed in overcoming their anxiety.

Stress and anxiety are a mental state of mind where negative thoughts are dominant, creating doubts and fears. To overcome stress and anxiety is to gain mastery over your thoughts; to change your mental attitude to a positive mentality. And one of the best ways to have a positive mental attitude is to nourish your mind with happy thoughts, lively music, happy moments, and associate yourself with happy people.

Hasan A. Yahya, Ph.D

 Physical symptoms can be caused by other illnesses, so it is important to have a medical doctor treat conditions such as ulcers, compressed disks, or other physical disorders. Remember, however, that the body and mind are not separate entities. The physical problems outlined below may result from or be exacerbated by stress: Sleep disturbances, back shoulder or neck pain, tension or migraine headaches, upset or acid stomach., cramps, heartburn, gas. irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea. Over weight, hair loss, muscle tension, fatigue. high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, and more colds, flu, infections.

 Emotional symptoms, like physical signs, emotional symptoms such as anxiety or depression can mask conditions other than stress. It is important to find out whether they are stress-related or not. In either case, the following emotional symptoms are uncomfortable and can affect your performance at work or play, your physical health, or your relationships with others:  nervousness, anxiety ;  depression, moodiness “butterflies” ; irritability, frustration ;memory problems ; nervousness, anxiety ;depression, moodiness ; “butterflies”

Relational symptoms

One important symptom is antisocial behavior displayed in stressful situations. It can cause the rapid deterioration of relationships with family, friends, co-workers, or even strangers. A person under stress may manifest signs such as: increased arguments, isolation from social activities, conflict situations with co-workers or employers ; traffic jam and  road rage ; domestic or workplace violence ; and frequent job changes.

Marital Status and church

The factor of  marital statue, for those who are young, we know for sure what make them under stress, if they are in the school or the college or the university. This will be determined also by the factors of age and sex and birth order. This factor also will show your intimate relationships or hostile ones, like playing the role of the  leader in what you do or the follower to others. Or like deciding for yourself or someone else decide for you and influence your behavior. From peers, boy or girl-friend, teachers, work manger, or whatever else.

If you are married after a short period of love, you will be in trouble in the future, because you did not study well the habits and qualities of your partner. (This is for both, Male or Female). If you plan to marry after graduation from your college, then we can expect from you to spend a good time in your life. And stress is still far from you. You enjoy what are you doing, with others in your age.

The culture and beliefs factor have something to deal with your role as a person cherish values and morality like other people in the surrounding community. In this case you are human, with a mind.  The stress to conform to others is making you rebel sometimes against something, but you cannot tell what was is. Is it what you want and you can’t do, or what others wanted you to do or not to do, and you did not conform with what they ask you to do, or not to do. The culture has its influence in the public and religious holidays, (Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine Day, and the like). www.hasanyahya.com

Stress is a normal reaction to what is happening in your life, and it can be caused by good, as well as bad events. A little bit of stress isn’t always a bad thing; but being over-stressed may cause a range of health problems including headaches, upset stomach, high blood pressure – even strokes and heart disease.

The changes that commonly follow a traumatic event can affect your emotional wellbeing and your ability to cope. If stress is disrupting your life in a bad way, it may be time to learn new coping skills or to get extra help.

Anxiety is a normal feeling that everyone experiences in day-to-day life. I can develop more strongly when faced with something uncertain, difficult, embarrassing or stressful. Anxiety feelings can range from being mild or moderate to severe, and can bring on extreme physical symptoms.

If your feelings of anxiety are causing disruption in your daily life, you may have a more severe form of anxiety called an anxiety disorder. If this is the case, you need to seek professional help.

Depression is a common illness like diabetes or arthritis. Many people suffer from depression at some stage of their life and it can occur at any age.

A lot of people use the word ‘depression’ to describe feelings of sadness and loss. These feelings often pass within a few hours or a few days. During this time, people are able to carry on much as usual. However, if you feel sad much more intensely and for longer and your feelings start to interfere with your work, social life and family life, you may need to seek professional advice.

There are a number of symptoms of depression and it’s very rare for all symptoms to occur in one person all at once. You might feel it come on slowly, from sometimes feeling blue to deeper feelings more often. It is hard to accept that symptoms like sleeping badly or feeling worthless are depression. After all, don’t we all feel that way sometimes? That’s the key – sometimes. It’s not normal to feel that way for a long time.

There are a variety of treatments for stress, anxiety and depression available to assist you in getting through the physical and emotional issues.

To live your life as you want, and be able to give to your family, friends and work – it’s important to look after yourself. Don’t be frightened to ask for help if you need it. We all need someone to talk to at some stage of our life.