PTSD: Reclaiming Control By: Robert ‘Bob’ Cuyler, PhD Psychologist and Trauma Expert
The Relationship Between Panic Symptoms and PTSD In this ongoing series, we recently described how PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects traumatized individuals, disrupting memory, thinking, sleep, and emotions. This month, we turn our attention to the role of panic symptoms in PTSD. Let’s start with a definition. Panic symptoms, often called anxiety attacks, are sudden surges in bodily distress that typically last 10 to 30 minutes. The most common physical sensations are shortness of breath, racing or skipped heartbeat, chest pain, dizziness, sweating, and nausea. Understandably, people experiencing these (Part 2often of 2)feel overwhelmed and want to avoid any feelings situation that could trigger another attack. Feelings of loss of control and fear of death are the distressing psychological aftermath. Fear of when another attack may occur can ‘take over’ and dominate thinking and behavior.
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It’s not widely known how much panic attacks and PTSD overlap. Research studies estimate that about 60% to 75% of individuals with PTSD have panic symptoms as well as the manifestations of PTSD that we’ve discussed in previous months. Panic and PTSD have been established in important research as having a ‘bi-direction relationship’, meaning that individuals with a history of panic attacks have a heightened risk of developing PTSD when exposed to traumas, and, as mentioned above, individuals with PTSD are likely to have panic symptoms. There are a few distinctions worth mentioning. Individuals with panic disorder, but not PTSD, may have anxiety attacks that seem to come ‘out of the blue’ or are associated with triggers or stressors such as freeway driving, airplane turbulence, performance, or social anxiety. The difference with PTSD is that panic attacks are most often closely associated with and triggered by traumatic reminders. Sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that remind of a traumatic event may evoke panic responses.