anxiety and panic, two different ways of being afraid for no reason – Corriere.it

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We are publishing a preview of the opening article of the new Corriere Salute. You can read the full text on the issue at newsstands for free on Thursday 6 May or in Pdf on the Digital Edition of Corriere della Sera.

In everyday language these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, as if they had the same meaning. But anxiety and panic are not the same thing. And indeed the commonly understood panic also different from what are defined panic attacks. Saying I panicked means that in a certain situation you have not been able to manage thoughts and behavior correctly, for example having to carry out an urgent task for which you are not sufficiently prepared. it is quite different to have a real panic attack, as understood by psychiatrists.

The medical definition
Panic attack is a specific clinical condition that is part of the anxiety disorders. It can appear suddenly without any perception of danger or immediate or future, and characterized by physical symptoms that can also prevail over psychic ones: in a few seconds, breathing and heartbeat accelerate, you breathe with difficulty, you feels a sensation of pressure on the chest, sweating, feeling of fainting, feeling of detachment from the surrounding environment and disorientation, blurred vision, feeling of losing control of self may appear. a phenomenon that usually tends to repeat itself, often stimulated by finding oneself in the same situation that had triggered the previous attacks. However, it can also happen that it occurs in isolation, perhaps reappearing after years even without an apparent cause. When the attacks tend to recur in a close manner, the so-called panic disorder is classified as an anxiety disorder by psychiatrists.

Agorafobia
Panic attacks can be associated with agoraphobia, a term that literally indicates the phobia of open spaces, although in reality today it tends to refer to the fear of being not only in open spaces, but also in closed ones, or in the middle of crowds, or even the fear of leaving the house alone. More generally, it refers to the insurmountable need to avoid situations in which there is a fear that one cannot be promptly rescued. It is evident that at the basis of such fear there is a disproportionate concern with respect to the risk that something bad could happen in the immediate future.

Related ailments
Panic disorder and agoraphobia are part of the chapter of anxiety disorders classified in DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, now internationally recognized as a reference point for diagnoses in the psychiatric field. . Anxiety disorders also include other disorders, including the so-called Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It is a condition in which the person has frequent and persistent episodes of excessive worry, disproportionate to the events and circumstances, but which do not have the characteristics of a panic attack. People with generalized anxiety disorder – which is a bit like the image of typical anxiety – miss the disproportion of their worry, and therefore feel that it is adequate. He tends to be constantly restless, gets tired easily and has difficulty concentrating, irritable and tense, sleeps poorly and little.


You can continue reading the article on Health Courier on newsstands for free on Thursday 6 May or in Pdf on the Digital Edition of Corriere della Sera.

May 4, 2021 (change May 4, 2021 | 19:59)

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