Fishman, S.M. and Sheehan, D.V. (1985, April). Anxiety and panic: Their cause and treatment. Psychology Today.

OVERVIEW

Anxiety and panic attacks can be resolved by the use of drugs and other treatments.

BACKGROUND

Anxiety and panic attacks are awful, creating a "lightheadedness, dizziness, rubbery legs, difficulty in breathing, a palpitating heart, choking, and tingling sensations, and changes in mental perceptions." These attacks leave their victims feeling doomed and catalyze the forming of phobias. Because the attacks can occur at any time, victims may first give up driving, then stop going out with friends, and then confine themselves to their homes—the safest place. Anxiety and panic attacks are biochemically oriented and can be stopped with drugs.

STUDIES

In the 1940s, researchers studied patients with chronic anxiety, and they found an extremely high amount of lactic acid in their blood. Those with normal blood pressure showed no anxiety. Psychiatrist Ferris Pitts of the University of Southern California School of Medicine used the research from the 1940s and injected attack victims with lactic acid. This incited an attack. Yet, when constant flow of the acid entered one’s body, the attacks stopped.

A Washington University School of Medicine study injected lactate into seven anxiety sufferers, and into six others who had never experienced an attack. The test results relied on the Gyrus, a panic and anxiety controller of the brain. The added lactate acid caused the seven victims to have a higher flow of blood on the right side of the Gyrus, causing behavior change; the other six maintained normal equilibrium.

Daniel Carr, endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, discovered that inhaling large amounts of carbon dioxide held the same effect as adding an injection of lactate. Carr discovered that carbon dioxide and lactate quickly produce chemical changes (like inhaling excess CO2). Panic is how the body reacts.

DRUG TREATMENT

Several prescription drugs are available. These drugs change one’s metabolism, eliminating the abnormality toward lactate. But they produce side effects such as drowsiness and high blood pressure.

THEORIES AND DISCOVERIES

Anxiety and panic disorders may occur because there is a missing hormone that regulates anxiety. It has been discovered that the attacks are genetic. Identical twins, who have identical genetic make-up, both suffer from it if one does.

CONCLUSION

Anxiety and panic disorders are found in people with an abnormal amount of lactate acid in their blood. An excess amount of carbon dioxide can also can attack because the CO2 and acid are receptors of the brain. When the abnormality occurs, the brain responds by sending out the panic messages. The Gyrus, an anxiety controlling portion of the brain, receives an imbalance of blood to the right side when the lactate is injected. Lactate acid is the basic cause for anxiety attacks.

IMPLICATIONS

• It is amazing how lack of knowledge and ignorance can cause us so much harm. Because of this lack of knowledge, people put themselves down when having these medically explained attacks.
• It is a relief to many to know that they are not weak in the mind when they feel panic or anxiety.
• People need to remember when working with others to give them the benefit of the doubt in their responses. No matter what the problem, it is still very real to the one experiencing it, even if their response seems out of proportion to the situation.
• The human body has built-in response systems to outside stimulants. The response to these stimulants can do different things to different people. It is important to remember we are all ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ and need to be respected as such.