You Need To Understand Anxiety Panic Attacks For Recovery

Mothers seem naturally prone to anxiety panic attacks when they chronically worry about how their young ones will fare in the world. The baby can't sit in the highchair because he might fall out. The toddler can't attend school because he may come into contact with germs. The fifteen-year-old can't attend a party with her peers because someone might offer her alcohol.

The twenty-one-year-old shouldn't have her own car at college because she might get into an accident. Falling asleep at night might leave the family vulnerable to a break-in. What if someone coughs on her in the elevator? What if she has panic anxiety in the grocery store checkout line and can't get out? Understanding panic attack anxiety is the first step toward recovery, experts say.

Many Americans wonder what the difference between healthy worry and chronic worry is. On one hand, California writer Dr. Beverly Potter explains, "Think of it as a mental fire drill, a 'thinking through' of things that potentially might happen. It's good to think over what could happen and to have a contingency plan.

That is what productive and effective people do." Yet, on the other hand, panic anxiety worrying can become a kind of "stuckness," where worrywarts "get stuck identifying danger as they immerse themselves in a dread associated with the threat, which may be real or -- more likely -- imagined."

Dr. Potter uses one story to illustrate the essence of anxiety panic attacks. One woman is madly waving her arms. Another woman asks her what she's doing and the first woman says that she's keeping the tigers away. "But there are no tigers here," the second woman protests. "See, it's working!" the first woman replies.

In essence, panic anxiety seems like a way of thinking to look out for all possibilities and plan everything out so one will be prepared for every situation. However, the anxiety attacks panic goes beyond the normal realm of healthy planning and is, instead, a morbid fixation on the worst case scenarios.

Without seeking cognitive behavioral therapy, sufferers of chronic anxiety panic attacks and panic attack disorder usually lose their ability to function in everyday life. After a few months, 10% of panic attack sufferers become housebound and are unable to leave (Agoraphobia).

After a few years, 30% of panicked patients can no longer meet job responsibilities or go to work everyday. Another 17% have become alcoholics and a whopping 40% have developed chronic depression. The majority of people who do not seek panic attack help suffer marital problems, reduce their travel and withdraw from their social lives. However, with treatment, over 70% of sufferers can find a panic attack cure.