Panic Attack vs Anxiety Attack

Not many people know this but there’s a difference between a panic attack vs anxiety attack. In today’s world, I often hear the phrase “panic attack” thrown around a lot. However, when a person starts to describe what happened to them, it generally falls under the category of an anxiety attack. I’m not saying that any experience is worse or better than the other because, quite frankly, neither are fun experiences. However, I like to make the distinction because the terminology gets overused.  There’s a very fine line between a panic attack vs anxiety attack. The main difference is that one comes on slowly and builds in intensity, and the other generally hits out of nowhere and has a greater intensity than the other. An anxiety attack generally takes time to build up and has a specific trigger. It can center around just about anything in a person’s life. Most often an individual can feel a sense of anxiety slowly building up in their system over time and then there is a large crescendo that leads to an anxiety attack.

Symptoms of an anxiety attack are . . .

• Shortness of breath or difficulty getting a full breath
• Increased heart rate
• Sweating
• Decreased ability to concentrate
• Slow build of intensity over time
• Focused on a specific stressor

A panic attack differs in the fact that its onset generally hits seemingly out of nowhere with no specific trigger and it has a greater intensity of physical symptoms. There is also a fear of losing control, going crazy, or a general fear that something bad is going to happen.

Symptoms of a panic attack can include . . .

• Hyperventilation or difficulty breathing
• Increased heart rate
• Sweating
• Nausea
• Sense of impending doom
• Shaking or trembling
• Chills or hot flashes
• Feeling dizzy or faint
  

This is not an all inclusive list of symptoms that one might feel during a panic attack but a few of the ones that I tend to see most often. As you can see, a panic attack generally has more physical symptoms associated with it than compared to an anxiety attack.  I want to make it clear that I am not saying that one is worse than the other. Both can be disarming and terrifying especially if you do not know what’s happening to you at the moment.  The main reason that I tend to differentiate between a panic attack vs anxiety attack is that it can help to identify different targets or things to work on in therapy. There are also different strategies to combat the two as well. All in all, both experiences are frightening and ones that we want to avoid.