Should panic attacks be regardered as trauma?

[Carver]

...and, therefore, after a succession of attacks, result in PTSD?

Panic itself is quite a traumatic situation, in which we feel like our life is absolutely in danger (when it's really not, though), isn't it?

So... Bearing in mind this, and the subsecuent anxiety that PTSD brings on: are we talking, then, about the same thing (PA, GAD, PTSD) after all, aren't we?

[Cathy V]

I think panic can be part of PTSD rather than be the cause of it. If youve suffered a trauma, then you can suffer afterwards with anxiety and depression and this is PTSD. I wouldnt class panic attacks as traumas in themselves, horrible tho they are, they are just a symptom of a bigger picture. Just my opinion.

Best wishes
Cathy xxx :)

[Lynnann]

Hi Carver,

Perhaps if you read the sticky by Kevin Gournay at the top of this sub category it will answer your question.

Lynnann

[belle]

My therapist said "Absolutely, yes"

[Lynnann]

Hi Carver,

I think there is a difference between panic and PTSD.

PTSD is caused by experencing or witnessing a Traumatic event, the resulting symptoms can include panic attacks amongst other things.

The difference being as you said in your own post deep down you know you are not going to die from a panic attack; traumatic as panic attacks are we know that they will pass.

I suffer from panic attacks and I admit they are very difficult to contend with however panic attacks do not compare with the trauma that caused my PTSD.

Lynnann

[Duke]

I think my panic issues were originally started like that...but further incidents over the years have compounded it...I should have sought help at the time...but instead I ended up inside a bottle...years ago you would have been maligned as a loony if you sought help...even in the forces it has only more recently been recognised as a syndrome...so I know I'm not unique...so to sum up, I think PTSD was the precursor to my particular situation.

[Natural Mystic]

I think panic can be part of PTSD rather than be the cause of it. If youve suffered a trauma, then you can suffer afterwards with anxiety and depression and this is PTSD. I wouldnt class panic attacks as traumas in themselves, horrible tho they are, they are just a symptom of a bigger picture. Just my opinion.

Best wishes
Cathy xxx :)
I agree, mine started after being diagnosed with skin cancer. I had m y first attack a month afterward (January this year)