The anxiety and panic attack symptoms will vary quite a bit between individuals. In addition to that, the severity of the symptoms will be different as well.

This article will cover the most common symptoms of anxiety disorder, how to tell the difference between this condition and other problems that mimic it, as well as the most effective treatments for panic attacks.

Before we cover the anxiety and panic attack symptoms, though, we first need to briefly discuss what happens with this condition so the symptoms and treatments make sense.

Within healthcare, a panic attack is actually classified as a psychological condition. But this is actually not really true, because this condition is actually more of an issue with the nervous system than it is psychological.

Stress is the most common trigger, but panic attacks actually occur because of the way the person’s nervous system responds to that stress.

Basically, an individual who lives with panic attacks experiences a much more severe reaction to what would make most of us nervous. In order to understand this, we need to first have an understanding of the parts of the nervous system that are involved when we experience stress.

They are called the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). Instead of making this boring like a text book, let me share a story to explain how this works.

Let’s say that a bear enters the room as you’re reading this article. Your brain will perceive the bear as stress, because it threatens your life (and I don’t know about you, but I’m a little on the chubby side, so I’d make a pretty good meal for that bear).

Your brain is hard-wired for survival, so at this moment, it has to make a decision – do you run from the bear or fight it? Either way, the body needs to be ready for this extra activity, so your brain will turn on the Sympathetic Nervous System.

This part of your nervous system prepares your body to either fight or flee – so your blood pressure increases (you need a lot of oxygen going to the muscles so they can prepare you to run fast or fight), your heart beats faster, you breathe more deeply, and many other things.

Once the bear has left, the brain turns on the other part of the nervous system that I mentioned (the Parasympathetic Nervous System), which does the opposite – it calms you down.

When a person lives with panic attacks, this response is intensified – so, there might only be 1 bear in the room, but your brain thinks there’s actually 5 bears. This is where the problem occurs.

So, with that said, what are the symptoms of anxiety disorder? Well, the anxiety and panic attack symptoms are different for each individual, and they can be experienced to different degrees.

Some individuals will have very minor panic attacks, so may not even realize what is occurring. Others have full-blown, very intense attacks that make them believe they may be dying.

Click here (symptoms of anxiety disorder) to continue reading this article, where you’ll learn the most common anxiety and panic attack symptoms, as well as the most effective treatments available for relief from this health condition.