When Panic Attacks

I was seventeen when I had my first panic attack. I never knew what this feeling was because I had never experienced it before. My chest felt tight, I could barely breathe and my mind was just racing as fast as my heart was beating. All I could think to myself was what is happening to me? Am I dying? What is this awful feeling? I was in the middle of taking a really important exam for my health class and I had no choice but to storm out of class. I didn’t even have the energy to ask my teacher if I could leave. I just left. I remember standing outside trying to catch my breath feeling very hopeless. I called my mom on the phone crying, trying to explain something that I, myself did not understand. Luckily, the talk I had with my mother helped me calm down a bit and I eventually went to the school office and had some water. When I had a talk with my teacher the next morning to explain to her why I had left class, she told me I probably had anxiety and was experiencing a panic attack. It was my senior year and I had a lot of responsibilities coming up. As my life as a teenager was ending and I was creeping into adulthood. The stress from the exam had triggered my anxiety. This is why I chose to write about anxiety, more specifically panic attacks because not only can I relate to this topic but so many others can too. My media topic will be based on the song “Breathin” by Ariana Grande genius.com/Ariana-grande-breathin-lyrics . This song relates to my topic of anxiety and panic attacks.

I found a really important article that touches base on anxiety called “The Critical Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression”ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20030305. One of the issues that the article The Critical Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression touches on is how children who often experience teasing, bullying, rejection, ridicule or humiliation may be prone to social anxiety disorder. Also, other things like negative events in their life, such as family conflict, trauma or abuse could also be related to this. Childhood behavioral inhibition in response to novelty or strangers, or extreme anxious temperament, is associated with a three-to fourfold increase in the likelihood of developing social anxiety disorder, which in turn is associated with an increased risk to develop major depressive disorder and substance abuse. All of this relates and goes back to how people with anxiety and depression disorder have experienced things in the past that have led them to dealing with this starting from a young age. These are some things I wanted to write about because I wanted to understand why this happens, where it starts from and what continues to trigger it.

Anxiety is a natural human response when we feel that we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations. Most people feel anxious at times. It is particularly common to experience some anxiety while coping with stressful events or changes, especially if they have a big impact on your life. Human beings have evolved ways to help us protect ourselves from danger. When we feel under threat our bodies react by releasing certain hormones, such as adrenaline or cortisol, which can be helpful. These hormones make us feel more alert, so that we can act faster. It also makes our heart beat faster, quickly sending blood to where it is needed the most. After we feel the threat has passed, our bodies release other hormones to help our muscles relax. This can sometimes cause us to shake. It is called the “fight, flight, or freeze” response, it is something that happens automatically with our bodies, and we have no control over it.

Ariana Grande who is a famous singer made a song called “Breathin” in 2018. This song was a part of her album called Sweetener. This song relates to my topic about anxiety. Ariana Grande could not have explained how she feels when she is experiencing a panic attack any better. The song explains how you can still be anxious about doing something that you have always done before. Ariana has been making music for years, but still she gets panic attacks and anxiety attacks while composing. This song tells us that anxiety can happen to anyone at any moment and it doesn’t matter if there is no reason to have an anxiety attack. Ariana opens up with the lyrics “Some days, things just take way too much of my energy, I look up and the whole room’s spinning, you take my cares away, I get so over complicate, people tell me to medicate.” The picture that Ariana paints with her lyrics are with everyday tasks seemingly taking more energy and feeling that the whole room is spinning. This is a feeling that everyone who has suffered from anxiety will recognize. This is the perfect song to help heal people who are experiencing anxiety. It will also help her fans understand that she is also a normal human being that suffers from anxiety as well. People will be able to relate to this, and specifically relate to her.

Cognitive theory has explained anxiety as the tendency to overestimate the potential for danger. Patients with anxiety disorder tend to imagine the worst possible scenario and avoid situations they think are dangerous, such as crowds, heights, or even social interactions. Also, people with left-wing political views had higher rates of anxiety disorder symptoms. While people with liberal economic views tend to be higher in neuroticism and lower in conscientiousness than their conservative counterparts.

In the article “The Critical Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression” it says “Both anxiety and depressive disorders are more prevalent in women, with an approximate 2:1 ratio in women compared with men during women’s reproductive years.” I believe that this is true because I am a woman who struggles with anxiety and depression. I think that women are more likely to “struggle with depression and anxiety” because we also get our periods each month which makes us more hormonal and emotional. Also, I feel like women care a lot and overthink things, whereas guys are a lot more nonchalant and laid back.

In conclusion, I feel like anxiety should be something that is discussed with everyone, whether you experience it or not. I feel like it is important to know about this so that people who don’t go through this have a better understanding of what people who do go through this experience. I think that this is definitely a topic that does not get a lot of light and attention. People overlook this most of the time and I think it would be very beneficial for everyone to have knowledge on what causes anxiety and what your body goes through when you are experiencing it. It is also a great way for people who do have panic attacks and anxiety to understand what triggers them to have this and what will help them overcome this. Referring back to the song, Ariana mentions throughout the song “Just keep breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’ and oh, I gotta keep, I keep on breathin” this is her way of calming down from a panic attack. In a way I feel like she was expressing in her song what helps her throughout her panic attack. For those who don’t experience this I think it would be a great way to educate them on how real this is and why people go through these things. Also, and when they do see someone who is showing all the signs of having a panic attack, they can learn what to do in that moment to help calm that person down and see how to help them. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S affecting 40 million adults around the ages of 18 and up. This is why it is important that people understand this mental illness and what they can do to help others around them that experience this.