‘Know thyself’ is an ancient and very wise piece advice. When it comes to anxiety attacks it is so true that it could have been intended absolutely and only for us who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. For the more we know about our condition the more able we eventually become in handling and overcoming anxiety.

Here are the main questions we share:

What is natural anxiety?
The body has to respond to dangerous situations, and very quickly too. Therefore it has a built-in fight or flight response which, simply put, is a series of events in the body that enable us to energetically respond and overcome very strenuous and physically dangerous situations.

Here’s the thing: natural anxiety is actually the beautiful, perfectly natural response of our bodies to danger! We who have anxiety disorders should not be ashamed of ourselves. Our bodies are functioning very well, thank you. Had we lived in a thousand years or even a hundred years ago, we would have been the ones to survive!

What happens during an anxiety panic attack?
Our fight or flight response triggers the release of various neurotransmittors, like adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate and more. They trigger responses such as:

• making us breathe deeper so more oxygen gets absorbed into our blood;
• getting our hearts to start pumping blood at a higher rate so more blood and oxygen reaches our muscles so we can better fight the enemy, or outrun it.
• directing blood sugar to our muscles, so we have the physical energy for fighting or fleeing.

If I suffer from panic attack will my children inherit panic attacks from me?
Not necessarily, but yes, our children are more likely to suffer from panic attacks than non-panickers’ kids. There seems to be a genetic basis. In almost half of the cases of identical twins with panic both are affected. But behavioral learning may also play a role. In other words our kids are likely to follow in our panic steps.

This makes it even more important that we learn to handle our panic attacks. We recommend that you check out the following self-help guide: Panic Away, by Joe Barry. He has suffered from Panic and Anxiety himself for years, until he managed to hit on one technique that is an almost fail-safe guarantee to rid you of your panic and anxiety.

Does stress trigger panic and anxiety attacks?
Yes, stress seems to play a huge role. There is a strong association between anxiety symptoms and recent loss or separation.