Panic Disorders or Panic Disorder

Another group of anxious people are subject to devastating episodes of panic that are unexpected and seemingly without cause. Such unpredictable panic attacks are marked by an overwhelming sense of impending doom and a host of bodily symptoms. The person's heart races and breathing quickens, as he gasps for air. (In the interest of brevity and grace of style, the pronoun "he" will be used throughout this pamphlet when either sex could be the topic of discussion). Sweating, weakness, dizziness, and feelings of unreality are also common. The person having a panic attack fears he is going to die, go crazy, or at least lose control.

Panic disorder is diagnosed when patients experience repeated episodes of such panic. Although people with simple or social phobias may sometimes experience panic, they are clearly responding to an encounter - or an anticipated encounter - with the object or situation they fear. Such is not the case with panic disorder, when the fear strikes from nowhere, seemingly "out of the blue."

People with simple and social phobias can also predict that they will feel fear every time they come close to a cat, climb to the roof of a tall building, or encounter whatever else they fear. People with panic disorder, by contrast, never can predict when they will suddenly be struck by panic. Some situations may seem more "dangerous," especially those that make escape difficult, but an attack does not invariably occur in those situations.

Panic disorder, which runs in families, afflicts some 1.2 million Americans. For most, panic attacks begin sometime between the ages of 15 and 19.