The Reason For Panic Attacks
The evening before, signs of antelope were spotted by one of the tribe as he made his way back from their look-out point on a small hill.
This overlooked a large valley, and they were able to see for considerable distances in any direction.
He conveyed this intelligence to the other men in the cave, and the next morning, a hunting party set out in the hope of augmenting their dwindling food stocks.
Winter was approaching, and there was much preparation to be made.
They started down the path, when all of a sudden, without any warning whatsoever, a huge sabre-toothed tiger leaped in front of them some thirty paces away.
It made no pause, but charged the group of hunters.
And here we see the basic reason for panic attacks.
They scattered in all directions and because of this, when they re-gathered back at the cave, they found that only one of their number had been killed.
From that day onwards, they were never less than fearful when making their way down that particular path.
In those far off days, our ancestors were among the weakest and most vulnerable inhabitants on earth.
They were relatively very small compared to some of the mighty predators, and they didn't possess great teeth and claws for attack or defense.
Their one instinct for survival is what we know as 'fight or flight.
' Today, we have panic attacks.
People report that they 'come out of the blue.
' This is perfectly true, but why does one person have an attack and not another? In a word; stress.
Panic attacks are caused by a most primitive part of the brain known as the amygdala, or amygdalae since there are two of them.
Two little almond shaped parts set deep in the media temporal lobes of the brain.
But why, in these modern times, do we still have the attacks? Well, if you consider that human evolution has taken about 140 million years, and that we may consider even the remotely modern era to be around 10,000 years old, then it may be easily understood that the influence on our brains by our forebears still carries a very considerable influence.
But what happens during a panic attack? Because you're under stress, the amygdalae are on a hair trigger.
You're stressed, therefore something's wrong.
Suddenly, the fight or flight option hits you, and this is the attack itself.
You find yourself shaking, hands sweating, legs quivering.
All this is because blood is being pumped from the stomach into all the major muscle groups, preparing you for the actual fight or flight response.
These attacks usually last between ten and twenty minutes and as quickly as they came, they vanish again and you're left thinking; 'what the heck hit me?' We'll look at this a bit more closely next time.
This overlooked a large valley, and they were able to see for considerable distances in any direction.
He conveyed this intelligence to the other men in the cave, and the next morning, a hunting party set out in the hope of augmenting their dwindling food stocks.
Winter was approaching, and there was much preparation to be made.
They started down the path, when all of a sudden, without any warning whatsoever, a huge sabre-toothed tiger leaped in front of them some thirty paces away.
It made no pause, but charged the group of hunters.
And here we see the basic reason for panic attacks.
They scattered in all directions and because of this, when they re-gathered back at the cave, they found that only one of their number had been killed.
From that day onwards, they were never less than fearful when making their way down that particular path.
In those far off days, our ancestors were among the weakest and most vulnerable inhabitants on earth.
They were relatively very small compared to some of the mighty predators, and they didn't possess great teeth and claws for attack or defense.
Their one instinct for survival is what we know as 'fight or flight.
' Today, we have panic attacks.
People report that they 'come out of the blue.
' This is perfectly true, but why does one person have an attack and not another? In a word; stress.
Panic attacks are caused by a most primitive part of the brain known as the amygdala, or amygdalae since there are two of them.
Two little almond shaped parts set deep in the media temporal lobes of the brain.
But why, in these modern times, do we still have the attacks? Well, if you consider that human evolution has taken about 140 million years, and that we may consider even the remotely modern era to be around 10,000 years old, then it may be easily understood that the influence on our brains by our forebears still carries a very considerable influence.
But what happens during a panic attack? Because you're under stress, the amygdalae are on a hair trigger.
You're stressed, therefore something's wrong.
Suddenly, the fight or flight option hits you, and this is the attack itself.
You find yourself shaking, hands sweating, legs quivering.
All this is because blood is being pumped from the stomach into all the major muscle groups, preparing you for the actual fight or flight response.
These attacks usually last between ten and twenty minutes and as quickly as they came, they vanish again and you're left thinking; 'what the heck hit me?' We'll look at this a bit more closely next time.
