Anxiety attacks can happen gradually or suddenly, but either way, they often leave people with overwhelming fear and worry that can manifest mentally and physically. They might feel as though something is wrong with their body, which leads us to the question, what does an anxiety attack feel like?
This article will do a deep dive into anxiety attacks, their symptoms, their triggers, and what you can do if you experience an episode. Keep reading to learn more.
What is an Anxiety Attack?
Some people experience a spike in anxiety after a specific stressor, like giving a speech. They may have trouble breathing, or they may sweat profusely. This is known as an anxiety attack, and it can happen to anyone at any time.
Signs of an Anxiety Attack
An anxiety attack can have physical and emotional symptoms, including:
- Rapid heartbeat or tightness in chest
- Shortness of breath or feeling like you can’t breathe fully
- Dizziness, lightheadedness, or nausea
- Shaking, sweating, or tense muscles
- Overwhelming worry or a sense of impending doom
- Feeling detached from your surroundings, known as derealization
Anxiety Attack vs. Panic Attack
The DSM-5 doesn’t include anxiety attacks as its own condition. Instead, the manual lists anxiety disorders, all of which carry a potential risk for attacks. However, when someone says they’re having an anxiety attack, they might be referring to symptoms related to panic attacks, which are recognized by the DSM-5. Symptoms can overlap between the two, but panic attacks usually present with more severe symptoms and can even mimic a heart attack in serious cases.
What Can Trigger an Anxiety Attack?
Anxiety triggers are different for everyone, meaning what triggers one person may not trigger another. Your heart might start to pound right before giving a presentation, but that same presentation could feel less intimidating to your coworker.
Triggers can be external, like family conflict at home, or internal, like having negative thoughts. Understanding your triggers can make your anxiety episodes easier to anticipate and manage.
Mental Health Disorders
Anxiety attacks are most commonly seen in those diagnosed with anxiety disorders. For example:
- People with social anxiety may have attacks triggered by uncomfortable social interactions.
- Those diagnosed with panic disorder experience recurring panic attacks that come on suddenly.
- Individuals with specific phobias, like arachnophobia, may have an attack if they see a spider in the shower.
- PTSD patients can have flashbacks and nightmares related to a traumatic event, which can also trigger an anxiety attack.
Anxiety attacks can also occur due to other psychiatric conditions. The most common anxiety comorbidities include anxiety-depression and anxiety alongside another anxiety disorder. These additional symptoms can exacerbate the existing signs of anxiety, increasing the risk of having an anxiety attack.
Further, people with co-occurring conditions like ADHD can experience more severe anxiety symptoms. This is likely due to ADHD symptoms, which causes anxiety-producing symptoms, including time blindness and poor working memory.
Prolonged Stress and Trauma
Living under constant stress creates the perfect conditions for an anxiety attack. When you’re faced with a challenge, your body activates the fight-flight-freeze response, releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
Adrenaline increases your blood pressure and makes your heart race. Cortisol boosts glucose in the bloodstream to give you quick energy. These responses are protective in nature, but when they don’t go away, your system never shuts down, keeping your body in a state of hyperarousal.
Any situation can cause stress depending on the person, including:
- Too many responsibilities or tasks than you can handle
- The pressure to perform, whether from self-pressure or the expectations of others
- Conflict involving friends, family, coworkers, or others
- Isolation from other people
Overstimulation
When your senses take in more information than your brain can process, it can cause you to feel overstimulated. This is called sensory overload, and it happens when sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste bombard the nervous system until it feels like too much. The brain then interprets the environment as a crisis, and as a result, you start to panic.
Overstimulation can come from a variety of things, such as:
- Loud music
- Crowded spaces
- Heavy traffic
- Strong smells
- Sudden changes in light or temperature
One of the most common culprits today is constant news exposure. With 24/7 access to TV, radio, social media, and online websites, the brain is continuously scanning for potential threats. The more we engage with negative headlines, the stronger our emotional responses.
For example, after the Boston Marathon bombing, people who spent six or more hours consuming news coverage reported higher levels of acute stress than many individuals who had been at the event itself. This shows just how much of an impact overstimulation from the media can have on a person, especially when they feel powerless about what’s happening.
How Long Do Anxiety Attacks Last?
Since anxiety affects everyone differently, the length of an anxiety attack can vary as well. If someone lacks resilience or the stressor is still present, an attack can last much longer.
In most cases, physical symptoms will escalate, then gradually taper off as the body processes the surge of adrenaline and cortisol. It’s common to feel drained or mentally foggy after an attack; this is just your body coming down from being on high alert.
What to do During an Anxiety Attack
When you’re having an anxiety attack, the one thing that’s on your mind is most likely how to get it to stop. The first step is to calm the body’s stress response, and you can do this through a variety of tactics. It’s best to have a plan or toolkit in place, so that when you do have an anxiety attack, you’re prepared to handle it head-on.
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Techniques
Grounding brings your attention back to the present moment and away from racing thoughts. Research shows it can regulate heart and breathing rates, reduce muscle tension, and improve long-term mood and sleep quality.
The method is simple:
- 5 things you see
- 4 things you feel
- 3 things you hear
- 2 things you smell
- 1 thing you taste
By engaging all five senses, this exercise interrupts the anxiety spiral and makes your environment feel safer.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Anxiety attacks cause the body to tense up in preparation for danger. Progressive muscle relaxation helps release this tension by moving through each muscle group one at a time, tightening, and letting go. Here’s how it works:
- Start from the top of your head. Soften the jaw, and relax your facial muscles.
- Move down to your neck and shoulders. Drop hunched shoulders.
- Keep going down to your torso, relaxing your stomach and chest.
- Swing around to your back. From top to bottom, unclench each muscle group.
- Continue to your thighs and calves, loosening any tightness.
- Finish at your ankles and feet, straightening your toes and placing your feet flat.
While you’re tightening and loosening your muscles, notice any sensations you might be feeling. Does your neck feel stiff? Is your back sore? It’s okay. Acknowledge your body and give yourself permission to release and rest.
Breathing Exercises
Slow and intentional breathing can help stabilize you when anxiety takes over your body. Deep breathing lowers your heart rate and relaxes the tension in your muscles. Two types of breathing exercises that are effective include:
- Box Breathing: Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds
- Diaphragmatic Breathing: Exhale and expand your belly, not your chest
Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness shifts your focus from what if thoughts to what is happening right now. It can be practiced anywhere, whether you’re sitting at your desk or riding the bus.
One study compared patients who completed an 8-week mindfulness meditation program to those who took Lexapro for anxiety. Both groups showed about a 20% reduction in anxiety symptoms, making it just as effective as medication for treating anxiety.
Cold Facial Immersion
Lastly, splashing cold water on your face or holding an ice pack against your skin triggers the dive reflex. This is a natural response that eases your body out of a panic state. One study found that cold facial immersion significantly reduces heart rate and lessens self-reported anxiety and panic symptoms.
Struggling With Anxiety? Let’s Talk About It.
By learning how to spot and address an anxiety attack, you can start to navigate these challenging moments with confidence instead of being controlled by them. Still, it’s not always easy to do this on your own.
Cura Behavioral Health offers evidence-based treatments including individual therapy and medication management for individuals struggling with anxiety and related conditions. Our team works with each patient to build a plan that fits their needs and helps them find ways to feel better day-to-day.
If you’ve been struggling with anxiety, call us today to schedule an appointment.
Sources:
- Treating anxiety comorbidity: Lessons from exposure generalization studies – Behavioural Brain Research
- ADHD and Anxiety: Symptoms, Connections & Coping Mechanisms – Additude Magazine
- Chronic stress puts your health at risk – Mayo Clinic
- How the news rewires your brain – Mayo Clinic Press
- Grounding To Treat Anxiety – European Society of Medicine
- Daily meditation may work as well as a popular drug to calm anxiety, study finds – NPR
- The Implications of the Diving Response in Reducing Panic Symptoms – Frontiers in Psychiatry
