The Genesis of Panic page 2
			through voluntary hyperventilation and through inhaling carbon dioxide (which will produce sensations similar to those you might get breathing into a paper bag). The researchers concluded that when some people drink caffeine or when their bodies produce lactic acid, or when these people hyperventilate or breath carbon dioxide (things that will cause abnormal, and therefore, noticeable) bodily sensations, these things produce panic.  Since these things rarely caused panic in people with no history of panic attacks, the researchers assumed that people who have panic attacks have a chemical makeup that sets them up to have the attacks.  They are often told they have a “chemical imbalance." The logical conclusion of this diagnosis is that panic attacks are only controllable by taking drugs that will balance one's chemicals.  However, more recent research noted that these previous studies did not take into account that people with a history of panic attacks are usually highly sensitive to any sensation that might signal the onset of another attack.   Therefore, if you artificially stimulate any sensation that reminds them of a panic attack it will often lead them to think they are going to panic.  As noted earlier, if they think they are going to panic, this is enough to cause most of these people to actually panic.  In other words, the sensation can arise from any source, but it is the misinterpretation of the sensation that is the problem, not the sensation itself.  If people with a history of panic attacks believe the sensations are harmless, they will have the sensations without panicking.  It is the beliefs they hold about the sensation that really causes panic, because fear, no matter how intense, will not cause death, fainting, losing control, going crazy, acting weird, choking, vomiting, inability to breathe or anything except discomfort. There seems to be two major kinds of panic attacks; those that follow a period of heightened anxiety and those that seem to come "out of the blue." Panic Attacks That Follow A Period Of Heightened Anxiety Two distinct types of attack can be found in this category. In the first, the heightened anxiety which comes before the attack is the result of fearing an attack and worrying about it.  This is often the case when phobics experience an attack in a situation (such as a supermarket) where they have previously panicked.  Upon (or before) entering such a situation they tend to become anxious in anticipation of a further attack, then start to focus on their body, notice an unpleasant body sensation, misinterpret this as evidence of an upcoming attack and thereby activate the vicious circle which produces an attack.   In the second type of attack that follows a period of heightened anxiety, the anxiety that comes before an attack may have nothing to do with anticipating a panic attack.  It may come from other sources.  For example, a person may become tense and anxious as a result of an argument with his   spouse, notice his bodily reaction to the argument (fast heart rate, etc.), totally misinterpret these sensations as the onset of an attack or of something dangerous hap-pening to his body, and then panic.                                                                             (continued)