Mraman amplifiery previous articles we considered the different areas of current research into how to stop panic attacks. If you remember, it appears that researchers fall into one of either two camps: those who believe panic attacks have a psychological basis, and those who believe they have a biological one. Both provide different routes on how to stop panic attacks.

It is hardly surprising to find that the treatment you are most likely to receive will also tend to fall into one or other of these categories, and by far the most common is biological – looking at how to stop panic attacks by treating the physical symptoms. The reason for this may be that when most people have their first panic attack they think there must be something wrong with their bodies – for example, a heart attack or a gastric problem – and so they instantly think of going to their doctor to check it out.

In this article we’ll have a look at what tends to happen when people make that first visit to see their doctor and ask her how to stop panic attacks.

The Consultation

You’re worried and confused. You’ve experienced a funny turn, perhaps once or twice, and you can’t understand what’s happening. All you do know is that they terrified the life out of you and you feel jittery just thinking about what happened. Perhaps you haven’t told anyone about them because one of the thoughts you might have had during the attack was ‘I’m going mad’. And no one wants to admit to that, do they? So asking your family or friends about how to stop panic attacks isn’t exactly your main priority.

So you decided to make the appointment with the doctor, and there you are, feeling rather anxious because you’re probably fearing the worst. As you sit in the waiting room, your worries start niggling at you with all those ‘What ifs’. ‘What if I need a heart transplant?’ ‘What if I am going mad?’ ‘What if it’s some awful tropical disease?’ (even though you’ve never been anywhere near the tropics).

Eventually the doctor is ready for you and the receptionist signals you through. You sit down and start to explain in detail what happened: the shakes, the dizziness, the palpitations, the tightness in the chest, the sweating and the dash to the toilet – and maybe one or two other panic attack symptoms as well.

The doctor listens carefully, perhaps looking through your notes and asking a few questions: had you eaten anything strange; how were you feeling beforehand, and so on.

Because a doctor is generally focused on physical complaints and causes, s/he will (quite rightly) think of any physical diseases and complaints which have similar symptoms and which could be the cause of the panic attacks: thyroid problems, heart problems, low blood sugar or drug/alcohol problems, to name but a few.

The stethoscope will come out, then your blood pressure will be taken. The doctor will ask you more and more questions in order to make the correct diagnosis – how to stop panic attacks will not be his main train of thought at this point. As you field the detailed enquiries, it is natural for you to start to concentrate on what bodily sensations you felt at the time.

Unconsciously, you begin to elevate these panic attack symptoms in importance in your own mind. You focus on them to the exclusion of everything else, and through the doctor’s questioning you might even discover some ‘new” symptoms as well.

The doctor is doing his or her job. S/he is trying to find out the medical (biological) cause of the physical symptoms you’ve just described in great detail. S/he isn’t a psychiatrist or a psychotherapist, so it is to be expected that s/he focuses on your body in the way s/he does, and may not give a lot of thought about how to stop panic attacks at this stage.