What's the Difference Between Panic Attacks, Anxiety Attacks, and Panic Disorder? 1/3 Panic Attacks

[Music] what's the difference between a panic attack an anxiety attack and panic disorder this is important because people sometimes use these terms interchangeably they both have a lot of overlapping symptoms but the treatment for each of them is different so in this video we'll talk about the difference in the next video we'll talk about the good and bad advice for treating them and in the third video we'll talk about how to stop panic attacks from recurring hey everyone i just wanted to let you know that i've got a brand new course out it's all about

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you'd like to learn more check out the link in the description and let's get back to the video both panic attacks and anxiety attacks include a sense of fear discomfort and the fight flight freeze response triggers physical symptoms like a fast heartbeat shortness of breath tightness of throat dizziness nausea sweating dry mouth shaking etc okay so what's the difference first definitions vary because the dsm-5 the diagnostic manual of mental health disorders doesn't define an anxiety attack anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry physical discomfort and fear anxiety attacks usually come in anticipation of some

event you might have work stress or a family event or financial trouble or all three and the stress becomes overwhelming anxiety builds over time until it reaches a breaking point and while anxiety may build over hours or days anxiety attacks usually last less than 30 minutes now panic attacks are defined in the dsm-5 around one in three people will have at least one panic attack in their lifetime and with panic attacks a sense of overwhelming fear comes on suddenly they are more like a balloon popping there are two types of panic attacks unexpected panic attacks

which seem to come out of nowhere and expected panic attacks which come in response to some kind of phobia so for example if you're afraid of snakes and you suddenly come across one that may trigger a panic attack panic attacks usually last less than 10 minutes but panic disorder specifically includes one of three main symptoms one derealization feeling numb detached or floaty two fear of a heart attack or three fear of hyperventilating and passing out panic disorder happens when you have repeated panic attacks now it is even possible to experience both at the same time

for example you may feel nervous about an upcoming exam and as the stress builds into an anxiety attack it may culminate in a panic attack during the test now both panic attacks and anxiety attacks are treatable decreasing overall stress working with a therapist exercise sleep relaxation meditation and breathing techniques and also cutting alcohol and nicotine can all help cbt techniques can help you learn to decrease panic and anxiety attacks but treating anxiety attacks and panic attacks require different approaches so let's talk about that okay if you google how to stop a panic attack you might

get really bad advice if you have chronic panic attacks the articles all say try to take some deep breaths calm yourself down distract yourself look if you've tried this and it worked you wouldn't be here so with a panic attack and especially with panic disorder this is the exact wrong advice let me explain an anxiety attack comes on gradually it's like a buildup of anxiety that overflows like a bathtub that's been filling up too long so this means the treatment is all about slowly lowering the level of the water so if you're overflowing with anxiety

these are the sort of things that gradually let the water drain you know slowing down calming your body take deep breaths get present try the 3-3-3 rule you know get more organized and decrease your overall stress and set boundaries you know process the stress that you can't decrease writing practicing willingness right getting support laughing exercise right all of these techniques can help decrease overall anxiety prevent both anxiety and panic attacks and they may possibly help you calm down in the middle of a panic attack now panic attacks are a different beast altogether if you've only

ever had one panic attack or just a handful you can try any of these previous techniques that you want give them a try just experiment see if they work but if you get repeated panic attacks then it's likely that trying to make your panic attacks go away is actually causing recurring panic attacks because you see panic attacks are anxiety about anxiety they are fear of fear there's this jimmy fallon clip where they talk about something funny that they overheard this one's from reggie games he says i once overheard a man in a stall next to

me whispered to himself please not now [Applause] yeah now jimmy makes a great joke of it but i can almost guarantee that it was someone in the bathroom trying to force a panic attack to not come on because that's the exact mindset that causes recurring panic attacks you start to feel some anxiety and then your body starts to produce some stress chemicals which trigger some uncomfortable sensations like a faster heartbeat or an upset stomach and you think please not now i can't have this panic attack now this would be terrible and the more you try

to force your body to calm down the more messages you send to your body that you're in danger that anxiety and panic is dangerous and must be stopped so in this situation trying to calm down your body sends a message to your brain that the anxiety is actually dangerous and it must be avoided which makes anxiety worse for the for people with panic attacks trying to use deep breathing actually makes the problem worse anything you do to try to force a panic attack to go away makes them worse and makes them come back again stronger

the next time so when you google how to stop a panic attack and the advice is try to take deep breaths if you have recurring panic attacks that is probably going to make you feel worse because it's going to feed that cycle of panic attacks you can learn to calm down but it's a paradox because acceptance has to come before change and the technique is a little bit paradoxical so in the next video we're going to talk about how the panic cycle works and in the last video we're going to go way in depth on

how to stop recurring panic attacks [Music] you