When faced with a very serious and dangerous situation, it is quite acceptable to panic and lose your presence of mind although it is very much preferred that you don’t and try to keep your head intact in order make split second decisions that may even cost you your life. But for some, even the slightest provocation and stress can cause a panic attack to ensue. And these are often prescribed some medications to help calm them down.

What is a Panic Disorder?


A panic disorder or a panic attack can be described to be frequent yet sudden periods of extreme anxiety, often with physical manifestations and symptoms of cognitive and somatic problems. This occurs as a result of several physiological processes in the body that work together to produce an overly reactive flight or fight response to certain stimuli introduced. When this occurs, hormones flood the body and thus keep it ready to defend itself from harm, which is not actually not that threatening nor is it present in the body. There is no exact cause for these panic attacks but it is seen that genetics may have a hand in it. Panic attacks affect women twice more than men. Those suffering from panic attacks also have a fear of having another attack and become afraid of being isolated or far from help.

How does a panic attack look like?

When a panic attack occurs, it is often the result of the Sympathetic Nervous System, which is often considered to be the most aggressive in response as compared to the Parasympathetic Nervous System. Symptoms may include shortness of breathing, trembling, chest pain, heart palpitations, hyperventilation, light-headedness, tingling sensations, choking sensations, smothering sensations, fear of death, fear of having no control, and the feeling of unreality. These symptoms are often misinterpreted to be a heart attack since they are quite similar. But most panic attacks occur together with some psychological condition that may come with an anxiety disorder. The time period it occurs is within ten minutes.

Treatment of Panic Disorders

Some medications for panic disorders are directed on the alleviation of the symptoms itself, especially if the panic attack does not exactly exhibit the presence of a disorder.

Benzodiazepines as treatment

Aside from its work on anxiety disorders and insomnia, benzodiazepines have been found to play a role in the prevention of panic attacks. Alprazolam, or more commonly known as Zanax or Xanax has been indicated for the treatment of panic attacks although some have tried using clonazepam or Klonopin. This is because as a benzodiazepine, it acts on the central nervous system, specifically the GABA receptors at the synaptic gap between nerve cells. When GABA, a neurotransmitter with inhibitory effects, is released by the mother nerve cell, they are attracted to its receptors at the receiving nerve cell, thus increasing the uptake for it. Benzodiazepines enhance the uptake of the receptors for GABA. Furthermore, this attraction also causes chloride ions to get inside the nerve cell and hyperpolarizing it to prevent other neurotransmitters to enter except for GABA. When GABA is attached to its receptors, it produces an inhibitory effect on the nerve cell, thus producing a calming effect on the body and preventing a panic attack to occur.

These two benzodiazepines, alprazolam and clonazepam are seen to work faster than antidepressants and have less side effects. Although they may cause withdrawal symptoms to occur, its speed of action makes it quite the better choice when dealing with events that may cause panic attacks.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor as Treatment

SSRIs like Paroxetine or commonly known as Seroxat, Paxil or have been seen to alleviate the symptoms of panic attacks. How does an antidepressant act or cause a panic attack to subside when it is not even concerned with panic attacks? SSRIs are substances that slow down the reuptake or even inhibit the reuptake of serotonin into the presynaptic nerve cell. Since serotonin is one of the neurotransmitters present in the central nervous system that affects the sympathetic nervous system, in disorders, it is often found to be in low levels in the gap. By preventing its reuptake, it remains in the gap for a longer period of time to stimulate the receptors in the postsynaptic cell to receive it through its receptors.

Since depression and other disorders occur due to a deficiency of serotonin, then the use of SSRIs are quite beneficial in treatment. Other SSRIs that can help in the treatment of panic disorders are fluoxetine or Prozac, which can also work for depression, sertraline or Zoloft, fluvoxamine or Luvox, Escitalopram oxalate or Lexapro, and citalopram or Celexa. They are also used in combination with benzodiazepines, with either one taken for daily maintenance and the other for preventing future panic attacks.

Beta blockers as Treatment

Beta adrenergic blockers or beta blockers for short, act on the beta receptors often found in the cells of major organs to stop the attachment of epinephrine on these receptors. When this happens, the effects of epinephrine such as increase in heart rate, sweating, and other effects of the sympathetic nervous system on the body are blocked, and thus preventing the occurrence of panic attacks.

The beta blocker often used for treatment or control of panic disorders is propranolol or Inderal because of its few side effects on the body. It is also often prescribed for people whose performance anxiety is so great that they need a calming medication just to get through it. And propranolol as Inderal is often the medication of choice. In fact, for those who are performing on stage or live, they take in propranolol in order to “steady” their nerves and not feel any panic or anxiety in what they have to do.

Another beta blocker that can be used for panic disorders is atenolol or Tenormin. Both are useful in the treatment of panic disorders, and even social phobia.

Panic attacks are often caused by certain fears that sometimes overcome our mind and cause a cascade of physiological events to occur on the body. It is also caused by an imbalance of substances in the nervous system. Medications such as benzodiazepines, beta blockers, and SSRI antidepressants have played a role in its treatment and prevention although it is found to produce better results when used in combination with each other. Since each person has a certain reaction to medication, the success of treatment will depend on the body’s response to it or a combination of these medications.