I know this may be a dumb question, but i’ve always wondered what the biological reason for panic attacks was. Is it because our brains are tricked into going into fight or flight modes? If that’s the case then wouldn’t you just feel adrenaline? And I know i’m not speaking for everyone, but for myself at least- panic attacks do not feel like bursts of adrenaline. They feel like i’m having a heart attack and I can’t shake the scary feeling of impending doom :/
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Panic attacks are exactly what you supposed: it’s part of your nervous system going into fight-or-flight. That’s more the “what” than the “why” though.
“Why” does one person get panic attacks, while another does not?
The subconscious mind is vast and powerful. I am not afraid of flying; I’ve flown many many times with no issues. But, one time a couple of years ago, just before take-off, my pulse went to 180, I started sweating, and I thought, “Maybe I’m having a heart attack?” I did not feel scared though.
After takeoff it passed. Later, my doc said it was likely a panic attack. My GF (who has a psych degree) confirmed this.
Why did it happen? Why just that once, but not any other time?
Only reason I can think of is that I had been watching a lot of YT videos about famous plane crashes, in the months before that flight. But it still doesn’t make a lot of sense, because afterwards I flew many more times and never re-experienced that.
So who knows, really.
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