When it comes to the terms panic attack vs anxiety attack, people use these condition names as if they are one and the same. But panic and anxiety are two very different disorders, each with their own symptoms.
Maybe you seek to understand the difference between a panic attack and anxiety attack to understand your symptoms better. If so, continue reading to learn more about panic attack vs anxiety attack. If you need help for your condition, a common co-occurring disorder of addiction, find this help in a dual diagnosis addiction and anxiety treatment program southern CA trusts.
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Panic Attack vs Anxiety Attack
The simplest difference between a panic attack and anxiety attack is in your symptoms. Panic attacks usually come with feelings of sudden fear. Anxiety attacks bring extreme stress or worry. Some symptoms for the conditions blur the lines between them, with both including fast heart rate, shortness of breath, and dizziness.
The clearest differences between anxiety and panic lie in symptom intensity and how long the symptoms last.
What is a Panic Attack?
A panic attack brings sudden fear, terror, apprehension, or nervousness. These intense feelings occur without clear warning and prove so extreme that they derail your day. If you have phobias, a panic attack is sometimes expected when exposed to your trigger situation or stress.
Panic attacks usually build up to a peak in 10 minutes, then go away. But you can suffer a more extended panic attack or several in quick succession.
Common symptoms of panic attacks include heart rate changes, sweating, shaking, tingling, or numbness. You also experience choking feelings or shortness of breath with fear of dying, going crazy, or losing control. Most people feel chest pain or tightness, with abdominal cramps, nausea, dizziness, and feelings of detachment.
Anxiety Attacks
Anxiety attacks do not appear suddenly, like panic attacks. Instead, they build up slowly over days, weeks, or months to an excessive level. In an anxiety attack, you fear a real or perceived danger with less intense symptoms than for a panic attack. Still, anxiety hinders your daily activity. It can be caused by past issues with trauma.
Symptoms of anxiety include muscle tension, sleep problems, concentration problems, and fatigue. You also feel restless, irritable, quick to startle, short of breath, and dizzy. Your heart rate increases as your feelings overwhelm you.
Treatment for Panic, Anxiety and Co-Occurring Addiction
Substance abuse commonly occurs along with anxiety or panic attacks. It is natural to want to reduce your attack symptoms, whichever of these conditions you suffer. But drinking or doing drugs only leads you down a darker path with more frequent attacks and intensifying symptoms. You also quickly find yourself dependent on drugs or alcohol, when using those in self-medication.
Your conditions of addiction and anxiety or panic make up the two or more conditions of a dual diagnosis disorder. For these co-occurring conditions, you need quality treatment for all of your symptoms at once. This treatment includes:
- Detox and rehab treatment
- Sober living, alumni events, and extended care
- Trauma therapy and equine therapy
- Individual counseling
- Neurofeedback therapy
- Psychodrama therapy
Through these methods and programs, you learn coping skills for your attacks. So whether you suffer a panic attack vs anxiety attack with addiction, get the help you need to enjoy a happier and more fulfilling life. That dual diagnosis treatment takes place at Phoenix Rising in Palm Springs, CA. Call Phoenix Rising now at 8552328211.
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