Cause of Panic Attacks – Psychological Stress & Anxiety

Though some contend it’s possible to have what appears a panic attack for a purely biomedical reason, others claim there is no such thing—that mind and body are too intimately connected. Whatever the primary cause, anxiety often colors our coping abilities, our relationships and our state of mind. And it’s often precipitated by a stress event or trauma.

Here’s What Can Happen with Stress:

Stress!! Jerry, a twenty-three-year old recent law graduate, felt terrific pressure to pass the bar exam. His father was a lawyer, as was his grandfather before him. But now his father was in a nursing home, incapacitated by the later stages of multiple sclerosis. Jerry, who had witnessed his father’s deterioration for many years, was terrified he too would get the dreaded disease.

While studying late in the night, Jerry went to jot some notes on a piece of paper. Suddenly, his hand just seemed to stop in mid-air. He felt as if he couldn’t move it. Terrified, he started to shake and tried to get up from the chair but felt as if he couldn’t move his legs.

Close to hysteria, he called a friend who drove him to the nearest emergency room. He arrived frozen in the doorway, convinced he had the first signs of multiple sclerosis. Upon examination, the ER physician assured him he did not have any preliminary signs of the disease, characterized by tingling in the arms and legs, visual disturbances, and temporary weakness, and sent him home with some tranquilizers.

If illness can mimic panic, Jerry demonstrates the opposite: how stress can create acute anxiety that in turn can manifest in apparent illness. His case also points to how difficult it may be to tease out the coma from the psyche—the body from the mind.

Psychological Stress:

Stress wears down our system, inviting all sorts of upheaval: ulcers in some, panic attacks in others as anxiety skyrockets. The stress of experiencing loss can especially trigger the first attack, including loss of:

A significant other through death, divorce or separation
Employment
Health through illness
Lifestyle as a result of a major financial reversal

In some vulnerable people, the stress of simple lifestyle changes can create enough anxiety to cause a panic attack. Changes such as:

Marriage
Divorce
Having a baby
Moving
Job change
Going into the military
Illness

Trauma:

Specific phobias often result from trauma. It often takes only one good fall from a horse to fear horses, one near drowning to fear water, one car accident to fear driving, or one rape to fear sex.