Trouble With How Some People Use The Term "panic Attack"

[maelstrom]

Hi, I don't know if this is just me, but I've been having trouble hearing people say they have "panic attacks" all the time, when they don't really have them, or at least not the kind of "panic attacks" I understand. I know it's not right to compare sufferings, etc. because it's not comparable, and I don't think anyone's pain should be treated less seriously, but the problem is just that when everybody is using the term "panic attack" to describe a general feeling of anxiety and fear, what term should we use to describe what is happening to us?? How do you distinguish them?

For me a "panic attack" is simply the worst experience possible, and to use "hell" to describe it is no exaggeration. When it hits I feel like I'm about to die--or rather, I feel like I'd rather shoot myself than staying conscious for another second. The world around swirls and feels completely different and nightmarish, and I can't breath or function normally and I can't even walk. For a long time I couldn't find the words to describe this experience, so when I first found out there was a term for it from my t and p I was relieved.

But these days I hear so many people say they had "panic attacks" when what they really mean is that they panicked. They would tell me how they had a "panic attack" and then did this and that and thought about this and that. But I was like...how could you possibly do or think about ANYTHING when you have a panic attack?! How could you want to do anything other than passing out or rushing to the ER?

Well, I know I'm probably being a bit harsh on people, and I don't want to. I myself sometimes make the mistake of using terminology too liberally, and I hate putting down other people's suffering. But it bothers me because I'm afraid that when I say I have a "panic attack", people would no longer know what I'm talking about. They would think I mean the same thing as the people I just mentioned above. And then how could I possibly tell them how I feel?

 

[RussH]

It really depends on the user of the term. You described what is a panic attack to you, and that is your understanding. For someone else, it might be that sensation of anxiety that drives them to the precipice, just not over it.
We do really try to give very broad understandings of things like panic attacks, because they are unique to each person's experience.

It may also just be the place they are in their healing. Perhaps you have progressed enough to recognize the difference between anxiety, and all out panic, whereas they are at the place where both terms seem synonymous.

 

[Casey_03]

I get irritated by this as well. I know some people who use "panic attack" to describe a very normal, mild sense of anxiety, the kind you'd get before delivering a public speech or something. To me, that is nowhere near a panic attack, it's normal nervousness that everyone gets. A panic attack is when it gets so bad you think you are dying, your heart might stop, and the world seems like it's ending .... People do the same thing with the term "depression." I know people who claim to be depressed when they are just sad or getting over a break up. It's weird, it's like people are starting to describe perfectly normal things in the most dramatic way possible, using terms that actually refer to mental illnesses. I even know some people who would claim to be bipolar or have various disorders when they were perfectly normal. In the States, it's almost as if this is trendy .... bothers me sooo much.

 

[Ronin]

<shrug> Not bothered that much, what I'm bothered by is that people assume I mean exactly those things when using some words & that there's no equivalent words I could use for a substitute, usually.

That said, I have words I have a bigger hangup with than common mental health phrases as panic attack and depression. Mostly because really, while a splinter can lead to an amputation, some times little troubles, are really insignificant b.s., and not what people label it as just because they're bothered at the moment. If it was what they're describing? What's bothering them would be the least bothering them thing.

 

[illusionist]

When I go into a panic attack Op, I feel exactly as you describe....it is awful. These used to totally floor me, but with learning techniques I have learned to bring myself out of them. I initially still feel the same as I did, say, twenty years ago, but my recovery is far quicker.

 

[Crow]

I hear ya. My attacks involve altered vision and hearing. Kind of like Petty's Alice In Wonderland video. It sounds like hyperbole compared. And yes, I know we should not compare. But when being heard/seen is part of the healing process, the different uses of the word can cause. ....um.....anxiety?

 

[Sandstone]

I don't know if it is one of those UK/US things, but I understood panic attack to have a medical definition and be at the very extreme end of things. Part of my old job was reporting numbers of A&E attendances, and there were certainly people brought in by ambulance because they or bystanders thought they were having a heart attack who proved to be having a panic attack.

The NHS website lists
Signs of a panic attack
You may experience:

• what feels like an irregular or racing heartbeat (palpitations)
• sweating
• trembling
• shortness of breath (hyperventilation)
• a choking sensation
• nausea
• dizziness
• tingling fingers
• ringing in your ears

Some people think they are having a heart attack because it feels like their heart is beating fast or irregularly, or even that they are going to die.

I do think it is quite important to use words within their accepted meaning, or we stop being able to communicate. Look at the trouble that ensued when my old T was trying to say my thinking was erratic, but told me it was scatological.

 

[Tinyflame]

I thought the same as @Suzetig above. I'm just learning how much anxiety I have, I never noticed, blamed cognitive conclusions not the other way around.

However, a 'new' thing that developed 10 or so years ago was having a panic attack when under the car (looking for leaks), under the bed (hiding), (I'm relatively small/ petite), & in the wind. I think it's related to not enough oxygen. They are horrendous & I feel so sorry for anyone going through those!!!

On the other hand, I very very often have such bad anxiety I feel like I am going to explode. I too feel like I wish I would die at those moments, the only solution is mostly just unconsciousness (& I guess death). However, it's based on a specific 'reason', not generalized. But,I did learn some people (it's not our fault) are pre-wired to 'find' something to be anxious about. (Though I too think it is based on knowing/ feeling one more thing & I can't bear it, & don't have resources/ energy/ support. Worst-case-scenario thing.).

I was anxious as a little kid, did overthink, was very sensitive to others/ others rejection/ facts/ environment/ fears/ realitiy.

So this stuff is complicated!

 

[Kintsugi]

I hear you on this. A lot of what people say are "panic attacks" are what I would consider either "a moment of panic" or an "anxiety attack." I don't know what the proper definition of an anxiety attack is, but I think of it as something similar to a panic attack but far less severe, where trembling, sweating, racing thoughts, and an overbearing sense of imminent doom is present without the racing/irregular heartbeat and dizziness that I typically associate with a "panic attack."

People misuse mental health terms all the time, though, like saying they're "depressed" when they mean they're just sad. Feeling sad and being depressed are wildly different feelings. Or hey, some people have quirks about things like organization or cleanliness, so they then nickname those quirks their "OCD." No, that's not OCD. That's a personal preference. I've seen real OCD. Or how about people who are moody? Cheerful one day and stormy the next? Those people must be bipolar, right? Noooope... highly unlikely. I'm intimately familiar with a couple different types of bipolar and have met lots of people who are bipolar. Rapid cycling is rare and never, so far as I know, a one day to the next sort of back and forth. How about being traumatized? You were traumatized by how bad that movie was? Your break up was traumatic? Your long-delayed flight? Bitch please. :meh:

 

[oasis2003]

Yes I think you definitely know when you are having an actual panic attack compared to being anxious. As for depression compared to sadness one is totally debilitating while the other you will feel different in a while. Guess which is which?

Actual panic attacks are extremely frightening while I am anxious on daily basis ?!

 

[Gadgie]

A panic attack for me, is almost like a heart attack, I can't breathe, and I feel dizzy to the point where I think I'm going to pass out, a cold sweat overcomes me, and I feel like I'm dying? It takes quite a while for me to recover from one of them.

An anxiety attack is different, I will feel really awkward, start to stammer if I try to speak, get frustrated, and sweaty, and I just want to run away, because I feel so embarrassed. I find that I can control it slightly, if I use a breathing technique that I was taught by a therapist some time ago.

 

[Friday]

I would probably be one of the people you hate.

In my own personal little spectrum I have :
Panic Attacks / Anxiety Attacks / Anxiety Running Hot / Spiking

I've been at this a long time. Years of dealing with these suckers means that for for over a decade -when I was doing well- I might kaboom! Blast into orbit with a full-on panic attack... For about 2 seconds. Because I could just as fast yank that sucker back down to earth. Ha. Take that. On the surface I might just give a little gasp, or tense, or pause for a moment ...enough for someone nearby to ask me what was up... Nothing. No worries. Just a wee bit of a panic attack. I'm fine, now.

Yep. I know exactly what panic attacks are. 5 really f*cking bad years before that decade was in no small part devoted to learning to deal with them. ((And all the other joyous fun symptoms of this bitch of a disorder.)) If I didn't yank that skyrocketing panic down to earth? ...and there were times I didn't, for various reasons... f*ck me. Minutes to hours of being blown apart by the firestorm. From the outside, though? I'm sure it looked like I was hyperbolizing. Shrug. DGAF what others think.

...

Conversely, while during my first set of bad years my panic attacks lasted minutes to hours, during my second set of bad years -and I am still in the process of retraining these damn things- I had a panic attack (not an anxiety attack, not anxiety running hot... Not even a series of any of the three... But one single effing panic attack) last months. From November to February. Started at a Thanksgiving party, and ended when police & CPS showed up at my door to inform me my son hung himself at his fathers. It turned on, it turned off.

It took me a solid week to learn how to go about my daily life with my heart beating like a rabbit (resting HR 140-180 on avg), every emotion & sense screaming at me, uncontrollable muscle spasms, drenched in cold sweat, etc. The whole shebang. Had to learn to force my muscles to work on top/over those that were busy freaking the f*ck out. Crawling, walking, standing. Goddamn workout from hell, "just" standing & not fishing out and thrashing, shaking and writhing. Even harder to appear composed while my muscles & skin were all rippling like a racehorse about to bolt. Had to learn to force my breathing to let me talk instead of stammering & gasping. To ignore my vision tunneling. To force each conscious action on top of the ones I couldn't stop. And, finally, how to divorce my emotions from my mind, since I couldn't shut the f*ckers off... Letting me think clearly. That took more than a week. It took a week to purely be able to walk & talk. Snort. The grocery store was like an acid trip. HFS I cannot even begin to describe how surreal those first few weeks were! :wtf:

After a month? Pfft. The only person who could tell was my doctor. <chuckling> Nearly gave the poor man a heart attack. Nah nah nah, just a panic attack doc, I'm fine. Had these for years, me. Nothing to worry about.

Same thing, I'm sure there are people who don't believe I had a panic attack for months. I don't really care. Did it. Got through it. Hope it doesn't happen, again, but if it does? Will deal with it, again.

...

LeSigh. The irony is that panic attacks hit me harder now than then (that doozy was about 2 years ago). We can get used to just about anything, given time. Eating, sleeping, walking, talking, driving, working, socializing; daily life. When something is constant? Or even near-constant (like when I'm have a few panic/anxiety attacks a day) It's a helluva lot easier for me to deal with (and plan for) than once I start doing better and they crash into me out of nowhere. Having time off from any symptom is bliss. But the less I'm used to dealing with them? The less I'm prepared to.

So, personally, I feel a helluva lot worse for people who only have a few panic attack a week/month/year. It has simply got to be so much harder to deal with, when they don't have the opportunity to learn all the coping mechanisms (and practice them!) over & over & over. My heart really goes out to them. I remember when these things were new, and scary, instead of just a pain in the ass.