Anatom3DPanic disorder
Perturbatio panica · Panická porucha
What it is
Recurrent, unexpected surges of intense fear with a pounding heart and breathlessness, followed by dread of the next attack and avoidance; a few in 100 adults have it at some point in life.
Symptoms & signs
- Sudden attacks peaking within minutes
- pounding heart, chest pain
- breathlessness, choking, tingling
- dizziness, feeling unreal
- fear of dying or losing control
- avoiding places where attacks happened (agoraphobia)
🚩 Get help if…
- call 112 / 911 now Chest pain with sweating, spreading to the arm or jaw, or lasting over 15 minutes
- call 112 / 911 now Fainting or breathlessness that does not settle at rest
- see a doctor soon Thoughts of suicide or of harming yourself
- see a doctor soon Attacks so frequent you stop leaving home or working
Where it strikes
Medical treatment
- Rule out heart, thyroid and drug causes once
- Cognitive behavioural therapy with exposure to the feared body sensations trials support
- SSRIs (sertraline, escitalopram) or venlafaxine — work over weeks; early jitteriness, sexual side effects trials support
- Benzodiazepines — fast relief, but tolerance and dependence; short term only mixed evidence
- Internet-delivered CBT trials support
Natural & lifestyle
- Regular aerobic exercise — eases anxiety; weaker than CBT mixed evidence
- less caffeine and alcohol
- slow breathing practice
- regular sleep
Emerging & experimental
- Virtual-reality exposure
- D-cycloserine to boost exposure therapy — trials disagree mixed evidence
- transcranial magnetic stimulation
Alternative, off-label & anecdotal
Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.
- Mindfulness — helps anxiety in trials; little studied in panic mixed evidence
- Lavender oil capsules (silexan) — trials in generalised anxiety, not panic mixed evidence
- Kava — some anxiety trials; liver damage reported mixed evidence
ICD codes
- ICD-10 F41.0
- ICD-11 6B01 Panic disorder