Phobophobia - Association With Panic Attacks

Association With Panic Attacks

When people experience panic attacks, they are convinced that they are about to die or suffer some extreme calamity in which some kind of action is done by the individual (such as fleeing or screaming). In case of phobophobia, a panic attack might be encountered as the fear that they will in fact experience the calamities of the feared phobia and see it as something inevitable. Also, the nature of the panic is of profound personal significance to the individual, on a similar way phobophobia is related to the individual. This is why panic attacks are closely related to phobophobia. Nevertheless, they can differentiate themselves by the fact that phobophobia is a psychological fear of the phobia itself that intensifies it, while panic attacks are extreme fear of encountering the calamities of an imminent disaster, and in this particular case, of encountering other phobias, which can be often accompanied by the at least four of the following common symptoms of panic attacks:

1. Dyspnea
2. Palpitations
3. Chest pain or discomfort
4. Choking or smothering sensations
5. Vertigo or unsteady feelings
6. Feelings of unreality (depersonalization or derealization)
7. Paraesthesias (tingling in hands or feet)
8. Hot and cold flushes
9. Faintness
10. Trembling or shaking
11. Difficult breathing
12. Sweating

Panic attacks can also be accompanied by disturbance in heart action and feelings of desperation and angst. Being closely related, phobophobia and panic attacks, the first one can be treated like a panic attack with psychological therapy. Moreover, in combination with phobophobia, a patient might be more susceptible to believe that his continuing anxiety symptoms will eventually culminate in a much more severe mental disorder, such as schizophrenia.