You Can Stop Anxiety Panic Attacks

What is an anxiety attack? It is an acute and heightened sense of pending doom accompanied by dread and terrible fear. Most people have felt this sensation at some time in their lives, but it is the person who is paralyzed by these symptoms on a constant basis that is considered to have anxiety disorder and who we want to help learn how to stop anxiety panic attacks. These sufferers cannot simply wish away from their minds all the overwhelming fear and anxiety that accompanies one of these attacks. Unfortunately, most all rational and logical thought have stopped by the time a person experiences a full blown anxiety attack and so an internal appeal to reasoning does not work to stop anxiety panic attacks. There is a real sense of helplessness that is felt by the sufferer and it this sense of helplessness that can spiral the anxiety and panic completely out of control with paranoia and depression close behind. Let's take a look at just a couple of ways to stop anxiety panic attacks and return a suffering mind back to a more normal state of being.

Medication: Probably the fastest and most complete temporary relief from anxiety and panic attacks is achieved through the use of pharmaceuticals designed as anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication. These are used alone or in combination with other drugs to help calm a person by controlling chemical actions and reactions in the brain. Some of the more common drugs used are: Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Paxil and Prozac. These are powerful medicines and are usually very effective in a very short period of time, especially the anti-anxiety drugs. The SSRI's used for anti-depression (such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft) are a bit slower acting and can take from a few days to a few weeks to reach concentrations in the blood sufficient to bring depression under control.

However, it wouldn't be prudent to discuss these medications without also mentioning their side effects, some of which can be quite harmful. While many of the side effects such as sleepiness, apathy, lack of sexual desire and disorientation usually end after the drug has been used for a short while, there are side effects that get stronger and more dangerous the longer and more often the drug is taken: dependence and addiction. Everyone who takes anti-anxiety, anti-panic medication like Xanax and Valium develop a dependence on them. In other words the body builds a tolerance to levels of the drug and goes through a withdrawal process that can be quite severe when the medication is stopped, especially abruptly stopped. Addiction to these substances is another matter entirely, one that requires another article.

In conclusion, the use of prescription medicines can be an extremely effective short term solution to how to stop anxiety panic attacks. But many patients feel the severity of the side effects greatly outweighs any relief the drugs may provide. These are sufferers who begin to search for alternative and more long term ways to stop anxiety attacks and even prevent them. There are many treatment modalities that have been used with great success to learn how to stop anxiety panic attacks.