Panic Attacks and Panic Symptoms
A panic attack can feel like a genuine medical emergency while it's happening, even when nothing is physically wrong — that gap between how it feels and what's actually occurring is part of what makes panic so distressing.
What This Can Involve
A panic attack typically involves a sudden, intense surge of fear alongside physical symptoms — a racing heart, breathlessness, chest tightness, dizziness, trembling, nausea or a feeling of unreality — that peaks within minutes. Some people also describe a fear of losing control, or of the panic attack itself being dangerous, which can create a cycle where fear of panic becomes its own trigger.
Possible Associations
Panic attacks can occur on their own (panic disorder), alongside agoraphobia, as part of generalised anxiety, or as a feature of a trauma-related presentation, particularly where they follow reminders of a distressing event. Physical health conditions can also produce similar symptoms, which is one reason panic is worth assessing properly rather than assuming a psychological cause outright.
What Helps Clarify the Picture
What matters clinically includes whether panic attacks happen out of the blue or in response to specific triggers, whether they're linked to a traumatic event, how long they've been occurring, and whether avoidance has built up around them. This picture is built through assessment, not a brief description.
Where EMDR Fits
Where panic attacks are triggered by reminders of a specific traumatic experience, EMDR may be considered as part of treatment. Where panic occurs independently of any clear trauma link, other evidence-based approaches such as CBT are often considered as a first-line option. Which applies to you is established at assessment.