Anxiety is very common. Fear, worry, anxiety, unease are all very common feelings. Anxiety attacks are not very common, but many of us suffer from anxiety attacks. Are you one of them? Let us find out.
What are anxiety attacks? An immediate onset of great amount of anxiety suddenly is an anxiety attack. Most of the anxiety attacks have physical symptoms. Let me give you an example. Say you have to deliver lecture tomorrow in front of an audience of thousand people. You will get anxious about that and remain so all through the night. But when you reach the podium, you may get the anxiety attack despite all the preparation. Most of us get such attacks. The situation may be different for all of us. There rare cases where people get anxiety attacks if they have to talk to someone of opposite sex.
Why do we get anxiety attacks? The causes of such attacks are mainly rooted in our ancestry. Our ancestors were taught by nature to save themselves by running away from any danger if they could not fight it. We have inherited those genes. Though we do not face fierce animals in jungles, we face situations that make us equally scary and we want to runaway, but unlike our ancestors we cannot run away in social situations.
The other reasons may include some incidents of childhood, that are carried to the adulthood or other psychological reasons that are better diagnosed by a medical professional. If anxiety attacks are damaging your social and work life, get treated. In case of normal attacks that you feel you can manage yourself deep breathing may help.
