What Causes Panic Attacks?

There are a variety of situations that can cause panic attacks. They range from mental disorders and drug abuse to medication and bereavements. Finding your panic trigger is key in getting the correct form of treatment for them.

PTSD

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder occurs when you have gone through a life-altering traumatic event. With this condition, you relive the event repeatedly as if it's happening again. Some people relive this fear through flashbacks and others through triggers or feelings of its happening again. These experiences can cause the person suffering to avoid doing anything that reminds her of the situation. Once confronted with the situation that she wants to avoid (the trigger); she begins to have a panic attack.

Extreme Phobias

• If you are suffering from an extreme fear of a particular object or place, you have developed a phobia. Very much as with PTSD, the person experiencing this phobia wants nothing to do with it. In this avoidance, the sufferer may think he is doing a service to himself by eradicating the fear in this way. When confronted with the very thing he is afraid of, he panics. The reason this occurs is because his mind has been programmed to receive the situation or item as a danger or threat.

Drugs

• Certain street drugs that cause a swift shift in emotion can trigger panic. Illegal street drugs such as marijuana and amphetamines can cause hallucinations and bizarre behavior. Some people experience this, all the while still being aware that these feelings aren't normal. A lot of drug users report having panic attacks as a response to their not having full control over what they're doing, or as a response to coming down and still experiencing symptoms of the high. Panic attacks for this reason are a direct side effect of the drug itself.

Medication

• Some medications such as bronchodilators and steroids may give you a case of the jitters. This is due to an increase in adrenaline used to open the airways and increase blood flow. In some instances, panic attacks are triggered because you may feel your heart racing and think you are going to have a heart attack. These thoughts can induce a panic attack. This reaction happens mainly in drugs where steroids are incorporated.

Bereavement

• The death of a loved one can often result in feeling sad, scared and alone. In some cases, bereavement can lead to panic attacks. These attacks happen due to a variety of feelings from fear of death to fear of abandonment. This can lead to extreme worry, guilt and then anxiety, which may also lead to panic attacks.