Can you lose your mind from anxiety/panic attacks?

[Panda22]

When my anxiety gets bad i feel like i will lose my mind and go crazy, and never be able to think normal again

That's what it feels like... it's never happened but it's the main thing i'm scared of

I'm just scared my brain won't be able to handle the feelings and will just shut down or something.. I've had many panic attacks and this is always my main fear

I really fear losing conrol and always check if i'm still behaving and thinking normally

[Mindprison]

Not likely. Infact one of the key symptoms of panic attacks/anxiety is the feeling that you've lost control or that you're losing your sanity. Just because it feels like it, doesn't mean it's true.

Usually your brain will go into feelings of depersonalization/derealization in order to protect itself from overwhelming anxiety, but even that's not loss of control or sanity, it's just a defence mechanism since your brain isn't sure how to process it all.

While i'm sure people's anxiety has gotten to a point where they truly feel like they cannot cope and become depressed/withdrawn, I don't recall ever hearing about anyone who reached a stage where they were insane.

[Panda22]

I don't understand after 1000 panic attacks it hasn't happened but every damn time i feel like it will

such a scary thing to think about

[Mindprison]

Here's a way of putting it:

To you, there's something extremely scary about going insane or completely losing it. Understandable since I think all of us fear not being in control.

When you're in danger, the last thing on your mind is worrying whether you're going mad or not.

Anxiety is there to keep us safe. It triggers things in our mind and body that prepare us to fight or run. So what happens when there's no actual threat? It confuses hell out of your body and it looks for something to be afraid of at that moment to try and justify the reaction.

No threat? It'll make you worry that the PANIC ATTACK...the thing that is designed to keep you safe...is the threat! So you'll think that your own body is triggering itself to death or that it's going to make you go crazy.

Everyone has triggers, but the problem is that when you aren't in any life threatening danger your brain is telling your body to fight or run, ends up in a situation where your body doesn't know what to do with all that adrenaline it just released.

Anxiety induces a VERY strong reaction, how many times have you panicked and without knowing why you feel like running away? Even if you're in your own home, you feel like you have to escape. Fight or flight, it's there to help us, but when you have anxiety it causes problems.

As much as we might hate it, we need anxiety to keep us safe and help us survive, it's when your tolerance to it becomes so low that it affects you every day for no reason that it becomes a problem.

[ankietyjoe]

Insanity/psychosis aren't the same thing as anxiety. You feel like you're losing your mind because the fight or flight response doesn't require you to solve a Rubik's cube. It requires to run or punch. Cognitive ability is a secondary requirement.

[venusbluejeans]

nope..... although mine feels close

[Mrs.Anxiety]

You will feel like it, but it's just a feeling, you can't actually go crazy. I had a week where I was having panic attacks left and right. I woke up in the middle of the night asking my husband to take me to a mental hospital or check me in because I thought they wouldn't stop and I was going to lose it. I wouldn't wish that feeling on my worst enemy. But again, it's just a feeling. I got out of it, and you can too!

[anxious andi]

I think it can definitely make you feel like that. I had a very scary panic attack many years ago. For about a month, I literally felt like I had lost my mind. I couldn't stand to be alone (I was a very independent person), I couldn't drive alone (this is likely because I had the panic attack in my car...) and I just went to work, went home and got into bed. The first time I attempted to drive alone (about a week after the initial attack)- I looked at the clock while I was driving and realized it was the exact same time my attack started a week earlier. I spiraled into another attack, and found myself crawling from my car to my parents porch. They weren't home and I just started bawling.

Desperate, I saw my DR who prescribed some anti-anxiety meds (new to me!) and I took one- and felt SO relaxed that it made me have a partial panic attack. Seriously- it was one thing after another. I stopped taking the meds, and gave it time.

I'm happy to report I've learned to talk myself out of panic attacks when I start to feel them coming on- but I absolutely felt like I was never going to get my mind back again for a month.