With the conversation around mental health opening up more, more awareness has been raised around anxiety.
Anxiety can mean something different and be experienced differently from person to person.
Sometimes people who experience this surge of emotions as an "anxiety attack", whereas others might refer to it as a "panic attack."
But, the two terms have different meanings.
“Panic attacks are a clinical term, whereas anxiety is not,” Alice Boyes, author of The Healthy Mind Toolkit told Huffpost.
“Having an anxiety attack can mean different things to different people.”
The term “anxiety attack” typically refers to a more specific experience, often triggered by something unique to the individual says Christina Boisseau, an associate professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
“When someone says they’re having an anxiety attack, it’s more a colloquial term, but usually what they are referring to is that they’re anxious about something that’s happening, whether it be with school, work or your relationships,” Boisseau told Huffpost.
“There is an identifiable stressor. And when people get really anxious or worried, they can experience heightened physical symptoms of anxiety such as their heart racing and chest tightening.”
Although anxiety is something you usually experience in anticipation or in reaction to something, Boisseau said a panic attack sometimes occurs for no obvious reason.
“Panic attacks are unexpected rushes of intense fear or discomfort that come with some scary symptoms ― your heart starts racing, you’re dizzy, you feel flushed or you get a sudden shortness of breath,” she said.
“Symptoms peak very sharply within a matter of minutes and don’t usually last that long.”
Boisseau believes most people will have a panic attack at some point in their life, but only 2 to 3 percent of the population will develop a panic disorder: “Panic disorder is basically a fear of fear.
“People who have panic disorder are afraid of the physical feelings of panic itself. They are afraid something is wrong with them, like they are dying or ‘going crazy.’ Essentially they worry about the implications of having a panic attack,” she added.
“They think to themselves, ‘I’m going to have a panic attack because I’ve had one before here,’” Boisseau said.
Mental Health Ireland describes a panic attack as a sudden and intense sensation of fear.
The person suffering at times feel they have lost control and feel desperate to get out of the situation that has triggered their anxiety.
Symptoms can include racing heart or irregular heartbeat, rapid breathing, feeling breathless and feeling faint or dizzy.