Panic
Everyone knows what panic is, and it is common to feel panicky from time to time such as:
- A sense that you are being followed on your way home from a party, late at night.
- You discover you have had your wallet stolen.
- You are sitting an exam.
It would be normal in any of these situations to feel a sense of panic. The feeling would be understandable and would pass fairly quickly. A panic attack is a bit like ‘normal’ panic, but different in a number of ways:
- The feelings are a lot stronger.
- The feelings seem to come ‘out of the blue’ and are not usually related to the sort of frightening situation described above.
- The feelings often last longer than a few minutes. As the feelings are unexpected, strong and often very physical, they can feel extremely frightening.
Panic attacks affect people in many different ways, but there is usually a sudden frightening feeling that something really awful is about to happen, with strong physical symptoms.
This can cause people to feel that something more serious, such as a heart attack is happening.
Panic Audio Guide