If you suspect that you or someone you know is experiencing panic attacks or a panic disorder, what is the best way to get panic attack help? Panic attacks can be treated and even cured in some cases.
Yet reports have indicated that more than half-possibly as many as 75 percent-of the millions of people who suffer from periodic attacks do not receive a speedy diagnosis and appropriate treatment for their condition.
Sometimes these attacks are severe and frightening enough to send people straight to their doctor's office or even the emergency room.
Because there are any number of illnesses that can have similar symptoms or even be the cause of a panic attack, it may take an alarming battery of tests to rule out those possibilities.
But this is an important first step for many people in getting an accurate diagnosis that can lead to a treatment approach.
Most panic attack sufferers don't immediately seek out professional medical advice, however.
Maybe they're embarrassed by their "weakness," or afraid they'll be told they are mentally ill.
After the attack is over-they only tend to last 10 to 30 minutes-you might just shrug it off and hope it doesn't come back.
It may take a few episodes or even years to convince you that this problem is worth paying attention to and trying to do something about.
Fortunately, in this day and age the Internet provides a wealth of accessible and reliable medical information about anxiety disorders in general and panic attacks in particular.
The National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychological Association, the Mayo Clinic, the Merck Manuals, WebMD and eMedicine are some of the better-known resources that can provide you with up-to-date and authoritative information.
Yes, there's a lot of unverified and personal information as well on the Web, but even just reading descriptions of other peoples' panic attacks can be informative and also supportive to people who are uncertain and fearful about what's happening to them.
Self-diagnosis isn't always the best idea, of course.
But gathering this kind of background information can convince you of the value of seeking treatment.
It can also be very helpful when you are talking to your doctor or counselor about what's happening.
A "prepared mind" can enable you not only to describe your experience more clearly but also to understand what your healthcare provider is telling you.
Whether you have figured out on your own that you are having panic attacks or a doctor has given you a diagnosis, what's the next step likely to be? What options will you find for treating your condition? Three treatment vectors are likely to present themselves: some form of psychologically based therapy, prescribed medications, or alternative self-directed treatments.
You may opt for one or any combination, depending on the severity of your attacks and your own preferences about drugs, psychotherapy and self-help.
Within each of these categories you will also be facing numerous options and choices.
There's a lot to be said for informing yourself as fully as possible about all these approaches before you start a course of treatment or rule any of them out.
Again, most of the online medical resources will give a summary and some of the pros and cons of various treatment modalities for panic attack.