It often starts small, like you didn't quite take in enough air with that last breath, or your heart feels like it's beating a little faster than usual.
Most people—if they noticed them at all—would brush off these sensations, chalking them up to a stuffy room or a looming deadline.
But not you. Your heart rate quickens, you find yourself gasping for air, and you start feeling sweaty, shaky, or nauseated. To make matters worse, your vision starts to narrow (so does your attention), and you feel detached from yourself—as though what you're experiencing isn't really happening. You're focused on only one thing: getting to safety. (Here are 7 things only people with anxiety understand.)
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For anyone who's ever had a panic attack, the situation above is a familiar one. It could be triggered by something specific (tight spaces, a fear of flying), or its cause may be more mysterious. Either way, those symptoms are your body's response to one thing: fear.
"A panic attack is a sudden rush of somatic symptoms—the fight or flight response—that comes from the amygdala of our brain when it senses danger," says Anne Marie Albano, PhD, director of Columbia University's Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders.
Most of the time, panic is a normal response to a scary or dangerous situation. But even if panic comes on suddenly without any apparent cause, attacks aren't always a reason to, well, panic. (Want to pick up some healthier habits? Sign up to get daily healthy living tips delivered straight to your inbox!)
"Anxiety is a normal emotion," Albano says. "The average person can have a panic attack, and they can manage it and go on with their life."
It's when these anxiety episodes start to become more frequent—and when you start to live in fear of them—that there's a larger issue at hand. "Panic disorder is when you're afraid of these physical sensations and when you change your behavior to escape them," Albano explains.
About 6 million American adults experience panic disorder, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. These recurrent anxiety attacks can be caused by a combination of things, including a predisposition to experiencing anxiety more intensely than others, or fear surrounding specific situations—even ones that are part of everyday life, Albano says.
Genetics are also a factor. (Anxiety often runs in families.) Even your mom and dad's parenting techniques could have set you up to be more anxious as an adult, she adds.
Treatment options for panic disorder often begin with a referral to meet with a psychiatrist or psychologist, who might try cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). "There's a lot of support for cognitive behavioral therapy in teaching you ways to control anxiety, getting relief from anxiety, and managing situations that make you anxious, instead of avoiding them," Albano says. Anti-anxiety medications can also be helpful.
But what if you find yourself caught in the middle of a panic attack without meds, CBT, or other life-preservers?
It sounds cliché, but the first thing you need to do is breathe. "Focus your attention on just breathing and slowing things down, taking note of the way your breath is coming in, and then slowly exhaling," Albano says.
Next, you need to take stock of what's going on around you—not what you're afraid will happen, but what's actually happening. (For example, you may feel like the walls are closing in on you in a tight space, but in reality, you're just in a small room.)
If those don't work, try to laugh it off. No, seriously. Laughter is one of the best ways to combat a bout of anxiety. If you can call to mind something hilarious a friend told you, or that absurd video you saw on Vine yesterday, that might just help halt the momentum of your panic attack.
Amber Brenza is the health editor at Women's Health, and she oversees the website's health and weight loss verticals. She has years of expereince interviewing top medical and nutrition experts, as well as interpreting peer-reviewed studies in order to give readers a clear and concise understanding of the latest health news and topics. Amber has her master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University and has held editorial or writing positions at Men’s Health, Prevention, Dr. Oz The Good Life, Tonic, and SELF prior to working at Women's Health.