Is My Anxiety Enough to Cause a Panic Attack?

Everyone experiences anxiety every once in a while, but not everyone experiences a panic attack. What’s the difference between normal, healthy anxiety, and the anxiety that can cause a panic attack? Basically, it’s brain chemistry.

When a person experiences anxiety of any sort, he or she usually experiences some combination of the following symptoms: racing heartbeat, hot flashes or chills, choking, chest pains, sweating, trembling, shaking, difficulty breathing, dizziness and fear. When these symptoms appear as a result of a sudden, identifiable threat, like a violent attack or a car accident, you are having a normal anxiety reaction. When these symptoms appear for no apparent reason, you are said to be having a panic attack.

Regardless of whether the symptoms of anxiety have an external cause, they have the same internal cause: the adrenal response to danger. Sudden stress, reasonable or not, triggers the defense mechanism known as the “fight or flight” response. The onset of the response is associated with particular physiological processes, particularly, the release of adrenaline. The adrenaline, along with other hormones released into the bloodstream, facilitates certain physical reactions including increases in heart and respiratory rate, trembling and dizziness.

This adrenal response becomes a problem, rather than the trigger for a helpful coping mechanism, when it happens frequently in the absence of a threat. When this happens, a person is said to have an anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and this is the type of anxiety that can lead to a panic attack. Why would the body experience anxiety, even a panic attack, in the absence of danger? Still, the answer is brain chemistry.

Generalized anxiety disorder, unwarranted anxiety so severe that it leads to a panic attack, is thought to result from an imbalance in brain chemistry. The excessive anxiety is thought to be caused by irregular levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry signals from nerve endings to the brain and vice versa. Neurotransmitters that are associated with anxiety include norepinephrine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and serotonin. Abnormally high levels of these neurotransmitters interfere with the way the brain receives and interprets external stimuli, causing generalized anxiety and panic attacks.

So just because you experience anxiety from time to time doesn’t mean you have enough anxiety to cause a panic attack. If you have abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters, you probably have sufficient anxiety to cause a panic attack. While these levels can be measured, they usually aren’t in the typical medical setting. Doctors usually deduce the presence of an anxiety disorder by the frequency, severity and causes of panic attacks. When you experience anxiety, pay attention to these three factors so you can get help if you do have enough anxiety to cause a panic attack.