What's the Difference Between an Anxiety Attack and a Panic Attack?

Hi there. Today you're going to learn the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack. You're going to learn about the mental and the physical symptoms of each. And be sure to stick around to the end because I'm going to share with you what I've learned as an expert in integrative mental health care to stop anxiety and panic in their tracks. So panic attacks are defined by the dsm, which is the diagnostic statistical manual that we use for mental emotional diagnoses as bursts of extreme anxiety and fear that can come on suddenly, out of nowhere. The feelings in panic include foreboding, fear of death, losing control, fear of insanity and dis. Some people experience something called derealization when they're panicking too, which is a form of dissociation. Dissociation can cause feelings of being really foggy, not feeling connected to your body, not feeling connected to your environment around you. And some people who dissociate may just zone out a little bit. Or on the other end of the spectrum, some people who dissociate may lose large chunks of time where they don't remember something happening. For example, if you've ever gotten in your car and driven to work, you arrive to work and you don't remember the drive, that's an example of dissociation. So if you've had that experience, then you've dissociated. In fact, most people dissociate on the spectrum somewhere to a degree, either one end or the other, or somewhere in between. Dissociation is a common symptom of anxiety, but it's much more prominent in an actual pan attack. Physical symptoms of panic attacks are one of the number one reasons that people go to the emergency department. Symptoms can feel like an elephant's on your chest, your heart is racing. People feel like they are having a hard time breathing. They may feel nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, numbness, tingling. Oftentimes it can be misinterpreted as a stroke or a heart attack. People will feel faint or dizzy. Some, some people even pass out when they're having panic attacks. The symptoms can be so severe. Anxiety attacks, on the other hand, aren't recognized by the DSM 5 but symptoms are typically diagnosed under another mental health condition. Whether you have generalized anxiety or if you're going through an acute stressor or post traumatic stress disorder or obsessive compulsive symptoms. And so the anxiety attacks are considered a flare of an underlying anxious state. And some of us may be generally higher anxious people. That may be the way that our nervous Systems respond to stress, whereas other people, maybe they fall more on the depressed end of the continuum. And so anxiety attacks, they can come on gradually or they can spike fairly quickly. And typically they're associated with some sort of a trigger or a stressor. Anxiety attacks are more common in individuals who have these mental health diagnoses, but they don't have to. So if you got a new diagnosis, whether it's a chronic health condition or a life threatening disorder, or if you had to move, or if you're going through a worldwide pandemic, or if you're experiencing insecurity financially or a job loss, or if somebody you love or somebody you know is going through any of these things, oh, all of these can surmount to having an anxiety attack. And physical symptoms of anxiety and panic can feel quite similar. And they can share a lot of similar emotional and physical symptoms. And to rehash it, anxiety attacks, you can have apprehension, you can have worry and distress and restlessness and fear. And panic attacks have more of that foreboding, despair, fear of losing control, fear of dying, premonition of dying, and then the physical symptoms can be identical across the board. You can have heart palpitations, racing heart, elephant on your chest, chest pain, a feeling of constriction on your throat, or feel like you're choking, or maybe you're not even able to swallow food and water because your throat is so constricted. Some people have dry mouth, other people smell sweat profusely or they feel bone dry. When my anxiety was at its worst, I had so much neuropathy. There is burning and tingling and numbness at the same time. So that can happen too. We can have flushes of heat, other people get chills, and maybe it goes straight to your gut or your muscles, or maybe you get a headache with it. And so these could be symptoms of both anxiety and pain. And physiologically the responses are identical to your body. Good stress, bad stress, panic, it's all the same physiological process. And that process is driven by two main things. And there are adrenaline and cortisol. And what these things are doing is they're aiming to put your body into a fight, flight, freeze, fawn, flop mode that are very driven by innate biological responses that aren't logical, that are driving your body to safety in whatever way it feels best. For example, if you fight when you get really anxious or when you're panicking and you just want to yell and scream and hit or fight in whatever way, maybe it's somebody else or at yourself, your heart rate will go up because your body is producing those endorphins to help you jump into action, your body will constrict peripheral blood vessels. And so it'll constrict the sensation and the blood flow to your fingers and send that blood to your heart and the big muscles that will help you fight and run to safety. And so all of the different things that you're experiencing are very normal processes that your body uses. It just feels scary, it feels different. The context is the main different thing. If you're doing something really fun, if you're excited and your heart is racing in anticipation, it's the same mechanism, but the context is what's different. And risk factors for anxiety and panic can be really similar. Whether you experienced a trauma or you witnessed a trauma or a traumatic event, whether you're going through a stressful life event like the death of a loved one, abuse, divorce, loss of some sort, ongoing stress, worries, work responsibilities or job loss, conflict in your family, financial insecurity, like we said earlier, a chronic health condition or a life threatening illness, or having a high baseline of anxiety can predispose you to both anxiety or panic attacks. Having a close family member with an anxiety disorder can predispose you to experiencing anxiety and using drugs and alcohol or living or having loved ones who, who struggle with addiction can also predispose you to anxiety. There's also health conditions that we want to look at. What's going on with your thyroid, what's going on with your adrenals. We want to look at what's going on with your heart and your nervous system. We also want to look at what medications you're taking. Some medications can make us feel more anxious. And so talking to your doctor about what you're taking prescription wise may be really helpful at getting to the root of why you feel the, the way you feel. But let's face it, sometimes we need a quick fix. And when panic and anxiety are bringing their worst, you don't have time to mess around. I get that. I've been there. And so I consolidated some of my favorite resources together to give you a free anxiety wellness springboard. And it has strategies that work and they work fast. This springboard includes three important things and, and then an actual bonus. And so this is what I was telling you at the beginning to stay tuned for because we have the data and now we need the answers. What do we do and what can we do fast? And the first thing is that I have the three biggest game changers for ditching anxiety. And of all of the therapy of all of the medications, of all of the supplements and practices and tools that have supported my clients get out from under anxiety, these three by far have been the most impactful. So you're going to get that for free. The second thing is the secret to setting yourself up to outwit anxiety from the day start. So we want to bring down that level of intense stress, that level of anxiety, so that your nervous system isn't as readily able to shoot you into panic, to shoot you into fear. The next is to stop intrusive and repetitive thoughts instantly. And I want you to learn my proprietary technique called the five minute spot point pivot. And that will stop your negative loop from shifting into patterns of obsessive repetitive anxiety and panic producing thoughts that don't serve you into strategies that actually work and work instantaneously. And there is a side effect of that, that the effects will accumulate. So it will help in the moment, it will help fairly immediately. It will also help in the long term. And then the last little bonus is sometimes we're looking for support where we can take something to get calm on command and get immediate supplemental and herbal support right away. So if you don't want to turn to the pills, if you don't want to turn to the Xanax, if you're looking for alternative answers that work immediately and quickly, I have those answers for you. And so these supplements support you while you do the work to beat anxiety naturally. And I also want to mention to you that I'm not a fan of the being stuck on supplements or medications, but they can be an effective bridge to help us get from point A to point B while we're doing the work to actually turn the page in our lives, we're going to include a link to the guide in the description and all you do is simply click on the yellow button and you can download that guide for free right now. And while you're doing the clicking if this video was helpful for you, if you wouldn't mind, give us a thumbs up. If you it helps the online algorithm to show that this content is helpful and valuable so that it makes it available for other people who are struggling to see it. And also speaking of spreading the word, if this was helpful for you, or if you know anyone who's dealing with panic and anxiety, please share this video with them. Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Nicole and I am here every single week and I will see you next week. Thank you so much for watching and here's to your next chapter.