Understanding and managing anxiety and panic attacks

Ever had your heart start racing, your chest tightening, and that overwhelming sense that something awful is about to happen?

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In those moments, it’s easy to wonder whether you’re experiencing an anxiety attack or a panic attack. While the symptoms can feel almost identical, there are key differences between the two, and understanding these distinctions can significantly impact how you handle them.


What are anxiety attacks and panic attacks?

The term "anxiety attack" gets thrown around a lot, but it’s not actually an official diagnosis. People often use it to describe a period when they feel extremely anxious or worried. It’s your body’s natural response to perceived threats, but sometimes these “threats” are irrational. For instance, you might feel intense anxiety about a big presentation at work or even a small social interaction. Your mind might know you’re not in actual danger, but your body reacts as if you are, triggering a rush of adrenaline, a racing heart, and even difficulty breathing.

The body’s anxiety response is directly tied to your fight-or-flight system, designed to protect us in life-threatening situations. Our ancestors relied on this response to either fight off predators or run away from danger. The issue in modern life is that many events aren’t life-or-death, but your body doesn’t always recognise that. As a result, it reacts as if you're facing down a tiger when you’re simply answering a phone call or giving a presentation.


The key differences between anxiety attacks and panic attacks

Anxiety attacks

Anxiety attacks typically build gradually and can last for an extended period. During these episodes, you may feel a range of symptoms, including restlessness, excessive worrying, or physical tension. While the feelings can be intense, they often allow for a level of control; you might be able to identify the source of your anxiety and recognise that it isn’t a genuine threat.

Panic attacks

Panic attacks, on the other hand, strike suddenly and are often overwhelming. One moment, you’re fine, and the next, you experience a rush of intense fear, heart racing, palms sweating, and the feeling that you might lose control or even die. Panic attacks reach their peak quickly, often within 10 minutes, and while the immediate symptoms might fade, you often feel shaky, exhausted, and on edge for hours afterwards. Many people mistakenly believe they are having a heart attack during a panic episode, which only heightens the fear.


The mind-body connection

Have you ever noticed how a thought like “I can’t cope” spirals into worrying about your heart racing — only for that worry to make your heart beat even faster? It’s a powerful feedback loop where the body and mind feed each other’s anxiety. Understanding this connection is the first step to breaking it.

Take health anxiety, for instance. You might feel a small twinge in your chest — something you’d normally ignore. But when anxiety is high, that sensation becomes the focus, triggering racing thoughts: “Is this serious? Could it be a heart attack?” This worry activates your body’s stress response, causing your heart to speed up and your breathing to become shallow. Suddenly, these new sensations seem to confirm your fear, reinforcing the belief that something must be wrong, even though there’s no actual danger.

This mind-body loop of anxiety intensifies with each reaction, making every sensation feel like further proof of your fears. However, recognising this cycle helps you start to break it. Techniques like mindfulness, grounding, and deep breathing can calm your body, sending signals back to your brain that there’s no threat — allowing you to reset and break free from the loop.


What’s going on with the fight-or-flight system?

When anxiety or panic hits, your body’s fight-or-flight response kicks in, causing your heart to race, your muscles to tense, and your breathing to become shallow. It’s your body’s way of preparing for danger, even when no real threat exists. During a panic attack, this reaction can intensify, leaving you feeling completely overwhelmed.

The tricky part is that these physical feelings don’t just vanish once the panic attack is over. Your body may remain on high alert for hours, making you feel jumpy and exhausted. This can create a mental connection to the place or situation where the attack occurred, leading you to avoid those situations out of fear of another attack. Before long, you might find yourself caught in a cycle: fearing another attack makes you anxious, which increases the chances of actually having one, perpetuating the loop.

Breaking this cycle starts with calming your nervous system. Simple techniques like deep breathing, grounding exercises, or shifting your focus can help remind your body that it’s safe again, allowing you to relax and regain control.


The role of breathing: Why it sometimes doesn’t work right away

You’ve probably heard about using breathing techniques to calm anxiety or panic. It sounds simple — just take deep breaths, right? But if you’ve ever tried it during a full-blown panic attack and thought, “This isn’t working!”, you’re not alone. The truth is, breathing techniques take practice, and they aren’t a quick fix.

Breathing exercises are most effective when incorporated into your routine — when you practice them regularly rather than waiting until you’re feeling overwhelmed. Think of it like training your body to respond to deep, slow breaths as a signal to calm down. If you wait until you’re in a state of panic, your body is already revved up, making it harder to return to a calm state.

In a way, this is similar to self-hypnosis. Both techniques rely on repetition, practice, and creating a conditioned response that signals to your body and mind that it’s time to relax. Just as self-hypnosis involves training your mind to access a relaxed state more easily over time, regular practice of deep breathing trains your body to recognise that those slow, deliberate breaths mean it’s safe to let go of anxiety. In both cases, you're essentially rewiring your body's response to stress.

Another common mistake is breathing too shallow or too fast, which can actually exacerbate feelings of panic. To gain the real benefits, it’s important to focus on slow, deep breaths that fill your belly, not just your chest. This kind of breathing helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for the rest-and-digest response — the opposite of fight-or-flight.


When to seek help

When anxiety and panic attacks disrupt your life, seeking the right help can make a significant difference. Hypno-psychotherapy combines cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) with hypnosis, offering a powerful way to cope. In this approach, hypnosis helps you relax and become more open to positive suggestions, making it easier to challenge the negative beliefs fueling your anxiety.

This method addresses both the thoughts you’re aware of and the automatic responses occurring below the surface. By helping you dismantle mental blocks, hypnotherapy can change how your brain reacts to anxiety triggers, leading to fewer panic attacks and a calmer mindset. If you feel stuck in a cycle of anxiety, this combined approach could be just what you need to break free and take control of your thoughts and reactions to stress.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author. All articles published on Hypnotherapy Directory are reviewed by our editorial team.

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Brighton, East Sussex, BN41
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Written by Angelika Kubisa
BSC, DIP.CBH
location_on Brighton, East Sussex, BN41
Angelika Kubisa - Hypno-Psychotherapist BSC, DIP.CBH Contact me for a free 15 minute discussion about Integrative Hypnotherapy and how I can help.
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