Agoraphobia and Specific Phobias

Agoraphobia is described as severe and pervasive anxiety being in situations from which escape might be difficult or avoidance of situations such as being alone outside of the home, traveling in a car, bus, or airplane, or being in a crowded area.

Most people who present to mental health specialists develop agoraphobia after the onset of a panic disorder. Agoraphobia is best known as an adverse behavioral outcome of repeated panic attacks and the subsequent worry, preoccupation, and avoidance.

Agoraphobia happens about two times more commonly among women than men. The gender difference may be attributable to social-cultural factors that encourage, or permit, the greater expression of avoidant coping strategies by women, although other explanations are also possible.

Specific Phobias

These common conditions are characterized by marked fear of specific objects or situations. Exposure to the object of the phobia, either in real life or via imagination pr video, invariably elicits intense anxiety, which may include a panic attack. Adults generally know that this intense fear is irrational. Nevertheless, they typically avoid the phobic stimulus or endure exposure with great difficulty.

The most common specific phobias include the following feared stimuli or situations: animals, insects, heights, elevators, flying, automobile driving, water, storms, and blood, injections or social phobia. Approximately 8 percent of the adult population suffers from one or more specific phobias in 1 year. Much higher rates would be recorded if less rigorous diagnostic requirements for avoidance or functional impairment were employed.

Typically, the specific phobias begin in childhood, although there is a second “peak” of onset in the middle 20s of adulthood. Most phobias persist for many years or even decades, and relatively few remit spontaneously or without treatment.

The specific phobias generally do not derive from exposure to a single traumatic event (i.e. being bitten by a dog or nearly drowning). Rather, there is evidence of phobia in other family members and social or vicarious learning of phobias. Spontaneous, unexpected panic attacks also appear to play a part in the development of specific phobias, although the particular pattern of avoidance is much more focal and circumscribed.

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessions are recurrent, intrusive thoughts, impulses, or images which are perceived as inappropriate, grotesque, or forbidden. The obsessions, which elicit anxiety and marked distress, are termed “ego-alien” or “ego-dystonic” as their content is quite unlike the thoughts that the person usually has. Obsessions are perceived as uncontrollable, and the sufferer often fears that he or she will lose control and act upon such thoughts or impulses. Common themes include contamination with germs or body fluids, doubts, order or symmetry, or loss of control of violent or sexual impulses.

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that reduce the anxiety that accompanies an obsession or “prevent” some dreaded event from ocurring. Compulsions include both overt behaviors, such as hand washing or checking, and mental acts such as counting or praying. Not uncommonly, compulsive rituals take up long periods of time, even hours, to complete.

Obsessive compulsive disorder typically begins in adolescence to young adult life (males) or in young adult life (females). For most, the course is fluctuating and, like generalized anxiety disorder, symptom exacerbations are usually associated with life stress. Common comorbidities include major depressive disorder and other anxiety disorders. Approximately 20 to 30 percent of people in clinical samples with obsessive compulsive disorder report a past history of tics, and about one-quarter of these people meet the full criteria for Tourette’s disorder. Conversely, up to 50% of people with Tourette’s disorder develop obsessive compulsive disorder.

Obsessive compulsive disorder has a clear familial pattern and somewhat greater familial specificity than many other anxiety disorders. Furthermore, there is an increased risk of obsessive compulsive disorder among first-degree relatives with Tourette’s disorder. Other mental disorders that may fall within the spectrum of obsessive compulsive disorder include trichotillomania, compulsive shoplifting, gambling, and sexual behavior disorders. The latter conditions are somewhat discrepant because the compulsive behaviors are less ritualistic and yield some outcomes that are pleasurable or gratifying. Body dysmorphic disorder is a more circumscribed condition in which the compulsive and obsessive behavior centers around a preoccupation with an individual's appearance. Find out more on the treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder.

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Anxiety disorder and Panic Attacks

Anxiety disorder is the most common, or frequently occurring, mental disorder. They consist a group of conditions that share extreme or pathological anxiety as the principal disturbance of mood or emotional tone. Anxiety, which may be known as the pathological counterpart of normal fear, is manifest by disturbances of mood, as well as thoughts, behavior, and physiological activity.

Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobia, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, acute stress disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. In addition, there are adjustment disorders with anxious features, anxiety disorders due to general medical conditions, substance-induced anxiety disorders, and the residual category of anxiety disorder not otherwise specified.

A panic attack is a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort that is associated with numerous somatic and cognitive symptoms. These symptoms include palpitations, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, sensations of choking or smothering, chest pain, nausea or gastrointestinal distress, dizziness or lightheadedness, tingling sensations, and chills or blushing and “hot flashes.” The attack typically has an abrupt onset, building to maximum intensity within 10 to 15 minutes. Most people report a fear of dying, “going crazy,” or losing control of emotions or behavior. The experiences generally provoke a strong urge to escape or flee the place where the attack begins and, when associated with chest pain or shortness of breath, frequently results in seeking aid from a hospital emergency room or other type of urgent assistance. Yet an attack rarely lasts longer than 30 minutes. The panic attack is distinguished from other forms of anxiety by its intensity and its sudden, episodic nature. Panic attacks may be further characterized by the relationship between the onset of the attack and the presence or absence of situational factors.

Panic attacks are not always indicative of a mental disorder, and up to 10 percent of otherwise healthy people experience an isolated panic attack per year. Panic attacks also are not limited to panic disorder. They commonly occur in the course of social phobia generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. Panic disorder is diagnosed when a person has experienced at least two unexpected panic attacks and develops persistent concern or worry about having further attacks or changes his or her behavior to avoid or minimize such attacks. Whereas the number and severity of the attacks varies widely, the concern and avoidance behavior are essential features. The diagnosis is inapplicable when the attacks are presumed to be caused by a drug or medication or a general medical disorder, such as hyperthyroidism.

Panic disorder is about twice as common among women as men. Age of onset is most common between late adolescence and midadult life, with onset relatively uncommon past age 50.

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Tips For Panic Attacks

Dealing with panic attacks are simpler than you would have ever believed. Ever thought you can get out of the most incapacitating situation of your life by simply breathing in and out? Well, it is time to explore what the power of breathing can do for you. You may feel that this is an overly clichéd stance of dealing with anxiety, but it actually works.

One of the best advices, dealing with panic attacks is to make sure that you are not concentrating on the anxiety that is beginning to cloud your emotions. There are many ways in which you can divert your mind, and it is these diversion tips that can help you overcome your emotions when you feel you are experiencing anxiety.

Breathing has so far proved to be the best diversion technique. Whenever you feel anxiety beginning to build up, take a break to breathe deeply. When breathing, count from one to ten, concentrating on the intake of breath and its movement throughout your body. Allow the breath to fill you completely before you expel the air.

You can trick your mind by simply counting backwards from 100 to 1. Another way to trick your mind is to perform complicated calculations in your head. This keeps your mind distracted, while your body relaxes back into its restful state and the chemicals in your mind begin to fall back into balance.

To further allow your body to relax, splash your face with cold water. This helps your brain as well as your body to slow down and assume the normal state of the body.

Methods for preventing panic attacks will take some time to effectively put into practice, but with a positive attitude and a little hard work you will be in a position to control your life before you know it.

Here are a few other tips:

1. Understand the symptoms of panic attack.

For example, one symptom of a panic attack is becoming afraid that you're dying. If you didn't know this, then you might believe it, causing you to panic even more. However, now that you know it, you can identify it when it happens, discard it as a feeling caused by panic, and lessen the effects of your attack.

2. Practice controlled breathing.

Frequently, panic attack sufferers claim they cannot breathe during an attack. This is not true at all. They can breathe just fine. They are really hyperventilating. This will cause the shortness of breath feeling to become worse. The extra oxygen in your bloodstream will also cause dizziness, difficulty swallowing, and heart palpitations. You can try holding your breath for 10 seconds at a time, or try slow, deep breathing. One of the best ways to control your breathing is to breathe into a paper bag. You won't be able to over oxygenate this way.

3. Don't be critical of yourself.

A common trend among people who suffer from anxiety is that they are harsh on themselves. Sometimes, if they feel a panic attack coming on, they'll come down on themselves for it. This will only make it worse. This is essentially having anxiety about anxiety, and it is counterproductive. The next tip can help you deal with this:

4. Comfort yourself.

If you understand that you're just having an attack, then talk kindly to yourself when it happens. Keep reminding yourself that it's only temporary, and it will pass soon. This will also help you develop a mind-set that can prevent future attacks from happening.

5. Change your focus.

During an attack, your focus is on yourself. You become hyper aware of everything happening to you. If you can manage to take your attention off yourself, then the symptoms will lessen. You can try reading a book, watching a movie, playing a game, or even exercising. Exercising is quite good for this because it will help control breathing as well.

You may also want to explore some effective panic attacks natural remedies. Also, find out what can be done to prevent panic attacks.

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Panic Attack Advices

Panic attacks contain the feeling of intense fear or distress. It often happens very suddenly for no apparent reason. Although panic attacks are very scary for the sufferer, they are not medically serious. When a person suffers from a panic attack, it is the body's natural response to danger known as the fight-or-flight response, even there is no apparent reason or danger for the onset of the attack. These reactions are called triggers.

For the majority of those who suffer from the symptoms of panic attack, the best panic attack treatment is to be educated about the condition and learn ways to control the attacks naturally with the aid of relaxation techniques and breathing into paper bags. Doctors and health care professionals show patients how to manage their panic attacks so they can treat themselves when they happen.

There are times that those suffering from panic attacks may be given medication. For example, if the doctor suspects that there is an underlying cause for the attacks, the patient may be given anxiety medications, such as valium or activan, while the patient is being checked for other illnesses.

My final tip for panic attacks is, they don't have to rule your life. By learning as much about them and figuring out what your triggers are, you can eventually get rid of them for good.

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Causes of Panic Attacks

The short and obvious answer: panic attacks are caused by high anxiety. But, what exactly is anxiety? Understanding how anxiety crops up will help you prevent panic attacks.

One of the biggest myths surrounding anxiety is that it is harmful and can lead to a number of various life-threatening conditions.

The Physical Manifestations of a Panic Attack: Other pieces of the puzzle to understand panic attack causes. Nervousness and Chemical Effects...

When confronted with danger, the brain sends signals to a section of the nervous system. It is this system that is responsible for gearing the body up for action and also calms the body down and restores equilibrium. To carry out these two vital functions, the autonomic nervous system has two subsections, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Although I don't want to become too "scientific," having a basic understanding of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system will help you understand the causes of panic attacks.

The sympathetic nervous system is the one we tend to know all too much about because it primes our body for action, readies us for the "fight or flight" response, while the parasympathetic nervous system is the one we love dearly as it serves as our restoring system, which returns the body to its normal state.

When either of these systems is activated, they stimulate the whole body, which has an "all or nothing" effect. This explains why when a panic attack occurs, the individual often feels a number of different sensations throughout the body.

The sympathetic system is responsible for releasing the adrenaline from the adrenal glands on the kidneys. These are small glands located just above the kidneys. Less known, however, is that the adrenal glands also release adrenaline, which functions as the body's chemical messengers to keep the activity going. When a panic attack begins, it does not switch off as easily as it is turned on. There is always a period of what would seem increased or continued anxiety, as these messengers travel throughout the body. Think of them as one of the physiological causes of panic attacks, if you will.

After a period of time, the parasympathetic nervous system gets called into action. Its role is to return the body to normal functioning once the perceived danger is gone. The parasympathetic system is the system we all know and love, because it returns us to a calm relaxed state.

Find out how to stop panic attacks today. Be in control!

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Symptoms of Panic Attack

Panic attacks are the triggering of the so called “fight or flight” mechanism, i.e. your body’s reaction to a situation your mind perceives as stressful and requiring immediate action and resolution (i.e. you have to leave it by solving it or by flying away).

If this reaction triggers in real high stress times requiring an extra level of action, then it is healthy and is going to help your survival (this is the so called “eustress” or “good stress”).
When this reaction triggers at inappropriate moments, becomes a panic attack. If a panic attack is triggered frequently in your daily life it becomes a panic disorder.

Are you having a panic attack?

So how can you tell if you are suffering from a panic attack? Together with tightness in your chest, there are just a few less common symptoms related to panic attacks, each varying from person to person in frequence and intensity. In fact most chronic panic sufferers tend to have a unique set of symptoms that mark uniquely their panic attacks.

Here are a few more distinguishing factors behind panic attacks:

• Increased heart rate.
• Quickness of breathing.
• Overwhelming feeling of dread or fear (panic).
• Unfounded fear towards random objects or events.
• Increased body temperature.
• Tingling in one or both arms and/or the tips of the fingers.
• Dizziness.
• Profuse sweating.
• Lightheadedness.
• Nausea.
• Minor delusions.

Even if the symptoms of panic attack can be daunting, a person who experiences any combination of the above symptoms has to remember that the feelings will not last very long.

The fact is that panic attacks are very limited in time and the body can only maintain this reaction for, at most, 15 minutes.

So the panic is in your mind but is not in your time. It’s overwhelming but it won’t last forever in your day. It’s hard, but you won’t die and you are going to experience a relief short after. Find out how to stop panic attacks today, be in control!

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Learning With Subliminal Messages

Subliminal messages in audio or video form are used for the process of learning. This is the magical way of learning in which while sleeping or in unconscious mind you can learn all the difficult things even which you never ever thought of. This is the innovative way of enhancing ones knowledge even when you fall asleep. The aid which helps in this is audio most often. You can even use subliminal MP3s are also available for the same purpose. They are in soft voice and you need to switch on when you are sleeping.

All the content gets or at least some of the content get registered in your mind. This is not any magic, it is proved fact. Many scientists and experiments have proved it that a mind never sleeps even when we sleep physically. This is the method which is beneficial for the people who are disabled or specially-able because of any reason. Learning is the process which is not based on any type of racial of physical differences. This is the technique which will help those who lost control on their body but their mind is still thirsty for knowledge.

You do not need to do any special effort to get the benefit from this technology. This is the quicker and more efficient way of learning. The efforts are less in this but the result is much more. All what you need to do to sleep (which I think is the easiest thing to do for many of us) and switch on your device of subliminal learning and boom you enter the sea of knowledge unconsciously.

The subliminal parts of the self help subliminal audios are generally recorder by an individual who has an articulate and soothing voice. The audios are often added with captivating music with something called a 'binaural beats' that further aids on the procedure of learning and the imprint of the information on the subconscious mind. As an individual listens to the music and enjoys it to the fullest extent, he0she is not aware of the information that is being to the brain.
As a result, the method of learning occurs completely at a subconscious level without the individual giving much effort to understand the concepts. Many people prefer to use headphones while listening to theme music in their time of relaxation. This makes them forget the outside world for the time being and enter into the world of music. This is turn makes the individual acquire information by the positive learning affirmations entertaining the brain into the zone of the subconscious. Take a step to look into subliminal downloads for improving mental wellness today.

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Subliminal Messages | Self Help Subliminal | Subliminal Downloads

Self help subliminal can train your subconscious mind which allows you to finally meet your own personal goals. Find out how self subliminal downloads can help you achieve better mental, emotional wellness and overcome many multitudes of things.

You can use it to help you achieve a multitude of things such as:

• Put a stop to episodes of emotional eating

• Be able to concentrate on tasks with more focus

• Reduce your overall stress levels and have the ability to deal with stressful situations effectively when they do arise.

• Eliminate unhealthy habits such as smoking

• Create healthy habits such as exercising on a regular basis

• Increase your confidence and improve your self-esteem

• Sleep more or just sleep more soundly

Here are the 3 things that every one of your self help subliminal sessions need to include to achieve your goals ensure success..
1) Get Specific

Let's assume that you have a goal that you're having trouble achieving, such as losing weight. Instead of saying, "I am going to exercise more", try a more specific approach like; "I enjoy going for a 45minute walk every morning". Try this approach for a month and you can see a change in your mindset and daily patterns. Don't be surprised if you start to wake up in the morning excited about going for a walk.
2) Get A Timeframe

If your goal is to stop smoking then you need to set a timeline so that you can focus your efforts and measure what you have accomplished. If you do not have any form of timeline, then you will have no idea how well you are doing and in the end, you will lose your focus and motivation.

Some types of goals such as increasing self confidence or becoming less shy, timelines can be difficult to create. If there is no way to quantify your efforts, you need to make it a daily focus and simply recognize when and how you are making progress. If you do not recognize that you are getting better, you will soon lose the motivation to succeed.

3) Get Repetitive

You goals become easier to accomplish if you repeat your suggestions in the form of affirmations while in a waking state. This will reinforce the idea because it is recognized by both your conscious and subconscious mind. This will make it even easier to attain your goals.

Find out more on what self help subliminal messages can help you in achieving better mental, emotional wellness and overcome many multitudes of things.

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