Panic Attacks and Depression
Panic Attacks & Depression:
A lot of people ask me if depression can cause panic attacks. There are many doctors out there prescribing antidepressants to cope with panic attacks… and I wanted to see if they are necessary!
As you probably well know panic attacks are defined by an onset of severe anxiety associated with a bunch of physical symptoms. The most frequent symptoms include sweating, loss of breath, dizziness, chest pains, and heart pounding.
The symptoms are really scary and people often misinterpret them as something really serious (heart attack or stroke) and end up in a hospital emergency room. Symptoms like these do appear in people that are depressed… but they are just as likely to appear when a person is NOT depressed.
Click Here & Read How I Used Cognitive Therapy To Cure My Panic Attacks!
Chronic panic attacks really take a toll on a person… they often lead to alcohol and drug abuse… sometimes even to suicide. Many people that experience panic attacks isolate themselves to try and avoid the future occurrence of a panic attack. This avoidance can lead to agoraphobia where a person basically gets stuck at home due to their anxiety.
So is your doctor right in prescribing you antidepressants for anxiety?
Antidepressants may help you with your panic attacks… but they definitely will not cure them all by themselves. A person should never rely solely on antidepressants to cure panic attacks… they may not even need them at all.
The first thing a person needs to do when combating panic attacks is to get educated on the subject. A person needs to learn that the attacks are not life threatening… and that they will go away on their own… without medical intervention. The attacks generally last from 10-30 minutes and then they go away.
A person can use relaxation techniques or guided imagery techniques to get through a panic attack. When a person gets good at relaxation they ignore the frightening symptoms of a panic attack which causes them to relax… which causes the panic attack to go away. >>>Read More About Relaxation Techniques
Panic attacks often occur because of a stressor. If a person can find their stressor they can manage it to help them with their emotions.
Antidepressant have been shown to be helpful in the treatment of panic attacks… they are actually better at treating panic attacks than depression! The only problem I have with them is that they make me feel like crap… I would rather work on the root causes of my panic attacks than go through life feeling like a zombie.
The medications may be helpful for some people… but I feel that you can get the same results using cognitive therapy. Need more info? Click Here