What Is a Panic Attack and Is It the Same as an Anxiety Attack?

Anxiety can feel overwhelming when you are dealing with it alone. Seeing a psychologist is a way to access treatments and techniques that work.

I see many people with panic attacks. Often, they seem to come out of the blue.

Panic can start with a rising sense of dizziness… a sudden rush of heat or flushing through your body. Your head begins to race, your heart pounds, your thoughts blur and spiral:

“What’s happening to me?” 

Vision may narrow, sounds fade, and everything around you can feel unreal or like a blur.

If you’re with other people, a new fear may arrive:

“Can people see what’s going on inside me?”

For some, panic attacks have been there since childhood. For others, they arrive suddenly in adulthood, without warning.

A key feature is not only the attack itself, but the fear of the next one. It can make you feel powerless, scared and like you are losing control. Your attention and mental 'headspace' can become preoccupied with trying to avoid it happening again. An anxiety attack usually builds gradually in response to stress, while a panic attack comes on suddenly with intense physical fear and peaks within minutes.

The Role of Trauma in Panic Attacks

For some people, panic attacks don’t arrive in a vacuum. Past trauma (whether in childhood or adulthood) can leave the nervous system on high alert.

A panic attack itself can also become traumatic. Many people describe their first attack as terrifying. The memory may remain vivid and recalling it can spark new waves of anxiety.

The good news is that this means several effective treatment options are available.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), for example, is an evidence-based therapy shown to help people reprocess trauma so the memory loses its overwhelming power.

The result is greater calm, confidence, and freedom in daily life.

The vicious cycle is broken

No more fear of fear, no more anxiety about anxiety. That shift restores confidence, competence, and a sense of control - not by eliminating stress from life, but by changing how your mind and body respond to it.

If panic has been taking up too much space in your life, know that effective help exists—and that you can retrain your brain to step off the panic cycle and return to calm.

Book a call back with me now if you want to take the next step. Whether your anxiety is linked to past trauma, or if panic is a new problem, I can help. Book here.