Why am I Panicking? Help!

Many people living with panic disorder wonder, "Why am I panicking?" Panic attacks can be frightening and frustrating and emotionally and physically painful; it makes sense to want relief from and help with panic attacks. After all, the symptoms of panic disorder are awful to live with. Even worse, sometimes it can seem like there's no reason for them, no explanation at all. When they continue to strike, seemingly out of the blue, it's normal to bemoan, "Why am I panicking?" Believe it or not, there can be multiple hidden trauma triggers and other reasons for panic attacks.

"Why Am I Panicking?" Is a Hard Question to Answer

The panic attacks of panic disorder have no apparent trigger other than the fear of more panic; rather than happening in the context of something else, they seem to have no cause (When Anxiety Strikes Without A Cause). No wonder people who live with panic disorder frantically wonder, "Why am I panicking?"

While panic disorder is complex and there isn't a single cause; but psychologists have come to understand contributing factors. These factors are often hidden, tucked quietly in the background, but when we begin to uncover them we can begin to solve the mystery of why we panic.

Possible Answers to the Question, "Why Am I Panicking?"

Given that we feel anxiety and panic throughout our entire being, it makes sense to look everywhere for factors that contribute to panic attacks. When we do a full-body scan, we can began to answer our own question, "Why am I panicking?" These four areas offer some welcome explanations:

1. Physiological -- This factor involves biological evidence. In the 1990s, researcher Donald Klein proposed a theory that natural goings-on in the body become misinterpreted by the brain, thus triggering panic attacks. He called it the suffocation-false alarm theory. It's been met with varying degrees of acceptance, but many psychologists believe that it makes at least some sense and is worth exploring further.

At its essence, the suffocation-false alarm theory purports that carbon-dioxide levels in our bodies naturally fluctuate, but in people with panic disorder, the brain interprets a drop in these levels to be life-threatening. It kicks into action by increasing the breathing rate, causing breathlessness and hyperventilation, which increases the feeling of fear, which leads to other panic reactions. This contributing factor tells us that the body itself is partially responsible for its own panic.

2. Cognitive -- This is the realm of thoughts and information processing. Here, our senses take in information from the environment, and our brain interprets the input. Often, though, with anxiety, thoughts aren't always trustworthy. Anxious thoughts can play a big role in answering the question, "Why am I panicking?"

3. Emotional -- Someone who lives with panic disorder experiences the emotions of worry and fear quite intensely. These emotions are centered around the fear of panicking yet again, especially in public. Here, the emotional fear of panic ironically induces more panic attacks.

4. Behavioral -- Naturally, we humans want to avoid things that are unpleasant. To call panic attacks unpleasant is a gross understatement. Because of their very nature, we want to avoid those places and events where we have panic attacks. Avoidance, though, serves to fuel our fear and anxiety, thus increasing the likelihood of continued panic attacks (Living With The Cycle of Anxious-Avoidance: Trying To Get Out).

While no single one of these elements on its own is a direct cause of panic attacks, each is a contributing factor. Beyond that, they are all intricately tied together, and each one exacerbates the others. Thankfully, once we're aware of these hidden factors behind panic attacks, we can pick them apart and address the issues rationally. By exploring the question, "Why am I panicking?" we can begin to understand, and thus reduce, panic attacks.

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