These can be terrifying, even crippling, experiences that in the extreme can lead to a person becoming totally homebound and affecting all activities. Anyone who has ever experienced a panic attack will quickly tell you it wasn't something they had any control over. And yet, people do learn to manage and grow beyond the tendency to have panic attacks. How many of the following are familiar to your life?
A panic attack is when several of these feelings come all in a rush and it seems your life has gone out of control. You may "freeze up" and not be able to respond or interact with others. You have a feeling of losing touch with the world, can't figure out which way to turn or what to do. Sometimes this only happens once, or twice, and a person never experiences it again. But every time it happens, the likelihood of it happening again is increased. In the process of "talk therapy" you can learn what triggers your panic attacks and learn to be in charge of them, rather than having your life controlled by the experience.