In today’s world, many people reference panic attacks and anxiety attacks on a day to day basis. Many people believe these are common signs of stress and claim to have them regularly or say they have experienced them at some point in their life. It must be stated, that a panic attack and an anxiety attack are not the same thing and there are certain distinguishing characteristics between the two. In the psychiatric world there are distinct classifications between the two disorders and in order for you to understand what may be happening with you personally, it is important that you know the differences for yourself.
Common symptoms of an anxiety attack:
Anxiety attacks can be triggered when you are in a situation that has made you fearful or has affected you negatively. For instance, you could be thinking of a bad situation involving a supposed outcome at work, school or a social function and you will focus upon that end product until you are nervous, scared, shaking, with a racing heart and shortness of breath. An anxiety attack can last anywhere from a couple minutes to a few days and can happen once or regularly in your life.
Common symptoms of a panic attack:
A panic attack can strike without any warning or reason and many times people who have one think they are having a stroke, choking or having a heart attack. A panic attack may be accompanied by signs of nausea or fainting. Many times these attacks occur when you are worried about your health and this will cause you to want to run to the ER for medical care. A panic attack can occur for a few minutes or a few hours.
There are differences between these two different types of attacks. An anxiety attack will be triggered by an actual event in your life; you will be stressed about something that could happen to you in a situation. A panic attack will be triggered when you are worried about your health and you will be afraid that you might die. Being worried or scared about sickness is a trigger for a panic attack. Anxiety attacks typically last longer than a panic attack because you are focused on a hypothetical situation and the physical symptoms of a panic attack tend to be much more severe than that of an anxiety attack.
