Panic Attacks Panic attack - a sudden or intense fear, anxiety or sense of impending doom, which reaches a peak very quickly. (Usually within a few minutes of it starting). It may be accompanied by pronounced physical symptoms, including a racing pulse, overbreathing, dizziness. An attack generally peaks within 10 minutes, but some symptoms may last much longer. There are known to be three types of panic attack, these are:- Spontaneous panic - Associated to panic disorder, these attacks come without warning at any time regardless of location or situation. This sort of attack does not need an external catalyst to start it. Spontaneous panic often happens during sleep, waking the sufferer in its throws and causing the person to think they are having a heart attack or something similar. A Panic attack builds subconsciously as a response to an unusual thought or sensation. In other words, when unusual sensations or disturbing thoughts, which are common in anxiety disorders, suddenly rear their heads, the sufferer€™s immediate reaction is to panic. The brain has been programmed to respond like this through repeated experiences creating habitual or instinctual panic which is stored as a memory deep in the subconscious mind and controlled by the Amydala a small, but important, organ that regulates the anxiety response and other emotional responses. This reaction starts a downward spiral of anxiety symptoms, the more symptoms there are, the more the person panics and the more they panic the more the symptoms occur; a viscious cycle is created from which it is very difficult to escape . The Amygdala 'learns' that this new level of anxiety is the new 'benchmark' for your 'normal', resting anxiety so next time you experience an anxious thought or sensation, the reaction is more intense. Fear breeds fear and the cycle starts. Specific panic attacks - These attacks happen in relation to a specific situation or place that causes fear. These attacks are usually the response to agoraphobia or other SPECIFIC fears where revisiting a place where you have panicked or had a bad experience before, could cause an attack. Situational panic - Although these attacks, like specific panic attacks, usually happen in certain situations, they