Panic Attacks and Anxiety (Extra Credit)

http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/panic_attacks/anxiety.html

This article explains the different sides of anxiety attacks, such as how we got to have them, why we have them, how they spread to different situations, and how to cure them. It begins by giving us a story about a woman who lived in a tribe, way before technology, who was gathering twigs in the wild. She encountered a bear near a rocky cliff, and was attacked. It was a bad experience, so whenever she was near another rocky cliff, she would have what we now call a "panic attack", a great feeling of unease that made her run away. This story demonstrates that we are not 'man the hunter' as we have been called before, but 'man the hunted', we had to be careful and fearful of wild animals that could attack us, and so we would have panic attacks during times when we encountered a situation similar to one we had previously experienced that was frightening.

Since our brain makes us panic when we come in contact with someone that reminds us of our previous experience, we can have panic attacks at unrational times. This article uses the example of having on in a car, and then having more while being on a bus or train, because they are similar. Even though they don't present the same danger, the situation is still the same in certain ways and so your brain still reacts. This is because we 'err on the side of caution', or are over cautious, because that it how we survived.

I think this article was appropriate and relevant for the world of psychology. It brings new insight into why we have panic attacks, and then wraps it up with ways to cure unhelpful anxiety attacks.

It was interesting and unique and very helpful to me personally.