Anxiety Attacks

Anxiety attacks are caused by extreme anxiety, distress, and fear. Many believe anxiety and panic attacks are the same, but this ignores personal experiences. DSM-5 doesn’t include diagnostic criteria for anxiety attacks, which means it’s open to interpretation. In fact, a person can experience both: an anxiety attack about a public performance, extending over days, with a panic attack on performance day—both sharing physical and emotional symptoms (distress, fear of losing control, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, numbness, hot flashes, shakiness, sweating). Unlike panic attacks, mild-to-severe anxiety attacks typically relate to a specific stressor and can accompany anxiety or mental disorders—generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Other differences:

• Fight-or-flight Response (FFR): Physical symptoms are less intense in anxiety attacks. During a panic attack, the body’s autonomous FFR takes over.
• Speed of onset: While anxiety can build gradually, panic attacks come on abruptly.
• Effect: Panic attacks typically trigger worries or fears related to having another attack, leading a person to avoid at-risk places or situations. This is less the case of anxiety attacks.