Am I Having a Panic Attack? Why It Happens and What to Do

Your heart pounds. Your vision blurs. You hear the blood rushing in your ears as everything becomes way too bright and and way too hot. You wonder if you’re going to faint or totally lose your senses. What’s going on?

Almost a quarter of Americans have had a panic attack. ABC News correspondent Dan Harris—poor guy!—even had a panic attack on Good Morning America in front of 5 million viewers. He described the experience like this:

I was overtaken by a massive, irresistible blast of fear. It felt like the world was ending. My heart was thumping. I was gasping for air. I had pretty much lost the ability to speak.

That sounds terrifying! Anyone who’s had a panic attack can probably relate to just how sudden, scary, and desperate it feels when you’re in the middle of one.

My experience with panic attacks

I’ve had only a handful of panic attacks in my life. The most intense one happened when I was pregnant and touring a daycare for the first time. Out of nowhere, my whole body got hot and tingly, a sense of dread began to well up, and my vision went bright white to the point where I almost couldn’t see.

Out of nowhere, my whole body got hot and tingly, a sense of dread began to well up, and my vision went bright white to the point where I almost couldn’t see.

But nobody else, including my husband and the multiple adults I was actively conversing with, even noticed that I was having a panic attack until a few minutes into it. And then, it was only because I told them. If you watch Dan Harris's ABC News footage, you’ll similarly notice a lack of drama. He’s not screaming, hyperventilating, or writhing around. There is some bewilderment in his eyes, and he looks a little sheepish, but the outside clearly doesn’t match the inside.

So let’s bust one common myth about panic attacks right off the bat. Panic attacks are not the same thing as “losing it” because you just realized their car was stolen or “freaking out” because you have a big project due tomorrow that you haven’t started. It’s not a hair-pulling, crying, hyperventilating, pacing frantically kind of experience.

A panic attack is an internal wave of extremely intense feelings...

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