72 | October• 2018
THE FEAR FACTOR
Physiologically, the brain’s reaction
totherapidheartbeat‘dangersig-
nal’ is to move blood from the limbs
to protect the core.” (his explains
the feeling of limbs turning to jelly.)
he person isn’t actually in danger
but the brain misreads the signs as
needing tolee.
For me, the stressor was my up-
coming move. Plus, I’d not been
sleeping well, so hearing more news
about September 11 likely increased
my heart rate.
heirst attack often leads to panic
disorder.Becausethesymptoms
makeyoufeelyou’lllosecontroland
die,thenexttimetheyoccuritleads
to another panic attack, says Deni-
sof.“Yourbrainstartstolookforsit-
uations when you should be fearful
or feel trapped.” Basically, you begin
to fear the fear.ITRIEDDRIVINGon the highway a
week later and, again, panic drove
metotheirstexit.AfterthatItook
smaller, slower roads. Weeks later, I
movedtoBermudawheretherewere
nohighways.Wealsodidn’thavea
car. I was so relieved. I hadn’t told
myhusbandaboutthetwoepisodes;
Iknewhelovedmyindependence
and strength and I felt ashamed of
being so weak.
To get around, I rode on the back of
our motor scooter, or I took the bus.
I did this often, but one day, out of
the blue, as I took the bus into town
my heart started racing. Sure enough,over and started to cry. What was
happeningtome?
his turned out to be the irst of my
many panic attacks. I had panic disor-
der–atypeofanxietyinwhich attacks
take place out of the blue – for the next
12 years. I didn’t know what was going
on at irst, but I’ve learnt a lot since.
Unlikefear,areactiontoanactual
threat,panicisintensefearinthe
absenceofrealdanger.Accordingto
figures from Beyond Blue, approx-
imatelyfivepercentofpeoplewill
experience a panic disorder in their
lifetime,with2.6percentofpeople
experiencingpanicdisorderovera
12-month period.
The first episode usually begins
when people are in their early to mid-
20s or in mid-life and is more frequent
in females. he reason is unlikely to
be biological, says psychology profes-
sor Martin Antony, who thinks men
simply don’t want to admit experi-
encing panic to researchers.
Suferers often report recent stresses
such as getting married or divorced,
moving, getting or losing a job, inan-
cial or health problems. In stressful
times, sleeping poorly can make us
more sensitive to anxiety-related
events, like rapid heartbeat. Panic
attacks occur when the brain identi-
ies this heartbeat as a danger signal.
“Humans are hard-wired to sur-
vive,” says clinical psychologist
Eilenna Denisof. “he ight-or-light
response allows us to run faster and
jump higher if we’re being chased. PHOTO (PREVIOUS PAGE): NICK WONG