Panic Attacks vs Anxiety Attacks

Are panic attacks and anxiety attacks the same thing?

The short answer? Nope. It is a little complicated, though, so let’s dive into them both, from someone’s who’s been there.

So, what are they? 

• A panic attack is a sudden burst, or attack, of physical and mental fear [source]. It’s a heightened version of your body’s typical reaction to stress, often in situations which are not themselves stressful.
• An anxiety attack, on the other hand, is not a diagnosable, nor concrete concept. Rather, it’s a more generalised term for experiencing symptoms of irregular anxiety — so, feeling anxious outside of stressful situations. Because an anxiety attack isn’t a formally distinguished term, it’s easy to get muddled between the two.

How can you tell the difference? 

A panic attack is:

Sudden.

Sometimes, you may be feeling completely fine immediately prior to a panic attack. Other times, they may come on as a direct result of intense anxiety — your panic hits a climax. Even if you were feeling afraid before, a panic attack is intense and often traps a person in a moment. Like being attacked, there is a physical and mental difference going from one stage to another.

Physical.

You may experience hyperventilation (that’s me!), a rapid heartbeat, feeling dizzy, feeling disconnected from the physical world around you, along with other symptoms your body would usually produce in a dangerous or stressful situation.

Scary.

As it says on the tin, it makes you panic, and that makes them pretty awful to experience. For a lot of people, thinking becomes very intense and controlled by fear during a panic attack. Because of the physical symptoms, you might be convinced you are going to die, or fear you’re experiencing some kind of medical emergency like a heart attack.

Varied.

While, unlike anxiety attacks, panic attacks are categorical and defined, their intensity can differ, to an extent. Sometimes, you might be frozen to one spot — experiencing the less known ‘freeze’ from the fight, flight, and freeze trio — and be unable to move; but sometimes you may able to communicate with those around you while having a panic attack. Equally, some panic attacks last a few minutes, while others can even be a hours long. Panic attacks which do not have a specific trigger — where you feel completely fine one minute, and terrified the next — are often more irregular and may need more time to pass, because there isn’t a defined situation causing the panic that you can remove yourself from.

They can happen to anyone.

If you suffer from an anxiety disorder you may be more prone to them. Similarly, if you suffer from panic attacks, you may experience general anxiety more regularly out of fear of suffering another panic attack unprompted.

What’s an anxiety attack, then?

An anxiety attack, on the other hand, can’t be defined into symptoms like a panic attack can. It’s a colloquialism to describe when someone is living with heightened anxiety — if they’re more nervous than usual. You might feel a stronger sense of anxiety when approaching stressful life events, like exams, but if you experience anxiety regularly and divorced from stressful environments, it could be a symptom of an anxiety disorder, of which there are many. Regardless of if you’re just going through a rough patch or if you’ve been diagnosed, anxiety often presents itself as…

Being preoccupied by worries that are disproportionate to the situation.

These can range in topical intensity, but are equally dread inducing. If you struggle with something like social anxiety, thinking about mispronouncing a word in front of other people could be enough to make you anxious — here, we can identify it as anxiety because the reaction is disproportionate.

Other people may be made anxious by more severe worries, like getting into a car accident, but, crucially, are constantly preoccupied with these fears. While a car accident is a nerve-wrecking situation, particularly if you’ve already been in one, being constantly afraid of this and having your daily life affected by it is what makes it an anxiety.

Struggling to do everyday tasks

Like go to school or do laundry, because you’re worried about bad things happening. You might struggle to go to work out of a fear of talking to people — see our post on social anxiety — or struggle to leave your pet alone out of unwarranted medical anxiety. Anxiety can also lead on to other mental health difficulties; if you find yourself afraid to leave the house, you may develop low mood and numbness as a result. Kick me while I’m down, why don’t you?

Feeling physically nervous in mundane situations.

Things like sweating, hot flashes, feeling sick, or struggling to concentrate can all present itself when you’re experiencing anxiety. In the long-term, people with anxiety issues are often more vulnerable to heart and adrenal problems because of over-exertion during anxious periods.

Medical professionals might use the phrase ‘rational’ and ‘irrational’ to describe anxious thoughts, wherein an excess of irrational anxiety could be a symptom of something like GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder). But, when you’re anxious, it can be hard to make a sound judgement on the rationality of your fear.

Sure, if I were about to die, this would be a totally rational reaction; but when I’m anxious, what I can’t recognise is that I am in a safe place, so I’m not about to die. It might feel it, but it isn’t actually rational. This is why it’s helpful to talk to someone safe when you’re experiencing a lot of anxiety, to help ground you outside the fear and tackle rumination — when you can’t stop thinking about your fears.

Though a panic attack is distinct, and anxiety attacks are more vague experiences, they are both difficult to deal with, but can become manageable. You are 100% capable of working through anxiety and living a happy, healthy life alongside panic attacks. We’re all in this together.

Need some help?

Make sure you check out our THINGS TO TRY page, for a bunch of ideas of things that have helped other people in the past!

If you found this helpful

Then please pick up some merch with a message! We have stuff to help you look good, ofc. But also have a bunch of aromatherapy products to help you FEEL good too. Including this ‘Waves’ candle, exclusive to HATW, to help boost your mood, and reduce feelings of anxiety. 👇