Editing Anxiety disorder (section)

===Panic disorder===
{{Main|Panic disorder}}
With panic disorder, a person has brief attacks of intense terror and apprehension, often marked by trembling, shaking, confusion, dizziness, or difficulty breathing. These [[panic attacks]] are defined by the [[American Psychiatric Association|APA]] as fear or discomfort that abruptly arises and peaks in less than ten minutes but can last for several hours.<ref>{{cite web|title=Panic Disorder|url=https://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/panic_symptoms.html|website=Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, University of Pennsylvania|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150527074826/http://www.med.upenn.edu/ctsa/panic_symptoms.html|archive-date=27 May 2015}}</ref> Attacks can be triggered by stress, irrational thoughts, general fear, fear of the unknown, or even when engaging in exercise. However, sometimes the trigger is unclear, and attacks can arise without warning. To help prevent an attack, one can avoid the trigger. This can mean avoiding places, people, types of behaviors, or certain situations that have been known to cause a panic attack. This being said, not all attacks can be prevented.

In addition to recurrent and unexpected panic attacks, a diagnosis of panic disorder requires that said attacks have chronic consequences: either worry over the attacks' potential implications, persistent fear of future attacks, or significant changes in behavior related to the attacks. As such, those with panic disorder experience symptoms even outside of specific panic episodes. Often, normal changes in heartbeat are noticed, leading them to think something is wrong with their heart or they are about to have another panic attack. In some cases, a heightened awareness ([[hypervigilance]]) of body functioning occurs during panic attacks, wherein any perceived physiological change is interpreted as a possible life-threatening illness (i.e., extreme [[hypochondriasis]]).

Panic disorder is commonly comorbid with anxiety due to the consistent fight or flight response that one’s brain is being put under at such a high repetitive rate. Another one of the very big leading causes of someone developing a panic disorder has a lot to do with one’s childhood. The article{{?}} provides knowledge on a positive trend in children who experience abuse and have low self-esteem to later on develop disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarkar |first1=Nilakshi |last2=Zainal |first2=Nur Hani |last3=Newman |first3=Michelle G. |title=Self-esteem mediates child abuse predicting adulthood anxiety, depression, and substance use symptoms 18 years later |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |date=November 2024 |volume=365 |pages=542–552 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2024.08.107 |pmc=11415822 |pmid=39178955 |pmc-embargo-date=November 15, 2025 }}</ref>