What Is a Panic Attack?
3. How Are Panic and Anxiety Attacks Different?
A panic attack is a recognized disorder in the DSM-5. Anxiety attacks, on the other hand, aren’t recognized as a psychiatric disorder. This doesn’t make anxiety attacks less serious, but it can be more difficult to find a diagnosis or treatment option.
Typically, an anxiety attack includes feelings of fear and worry. Although physical symptoms are often similar to both conditions, a panic attack tends to include more feelings of alarm, hopelessness and doom. While panic attacks are more likely to be uncued, anxiety attacks are often cued by a specific event or memory.
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