What are anxiety or panic attacks?
For those who do experience anxiety or panic attacks, the symptoms can include: • Fast, pounding heartbeat • Difficulty catching your breath • Flushing and sweating • Needing to go to the toilet • Feeling sick • Trembling • Dizziness • Dry mouth • Chest pain • Feeling faint These symptoms can be so intense that the person becomes convinced that they’re having a heart attack, which adds to their feeling of panic. Some people also begin to feel that the reactions of their body are so extreme and so out of control that they’re simply an observer of it all. Though they don’t describe any kind of out-of-body experience, they do describe feeling as though they become detached from what’s going on, as though the whole situation had taken on an unreal quality. This is referred to as ‘depersonalisation’. It sounds as though it may be a relief from the panic attack, but it is, in fact, even more unpleasant. There’s another group of people who experience panic attacks apparently spontaneously. Th
