Panic Attacks ~ Part I

Because I have such difficulties with depression, anxiety, and panic attacks, I have been seeing a psychiatrist, getting counseling, and reading some great books.

My mother, and others, used to tell me that, as a baby, I would cry when she touched me… the psychiatric nurse who has been helping me with the panic attacks was explaining the neurological basis for panic, in general, and panic disorders, in particular. She said that the fact that that kind of extreme reaction was present in me from birth would lead her to believe that the neurological tendency toward panic is a genetic predisposition in me. That makes some sense. Although I think it is more a function of the environment I grew up in. Being awakened in the middle of the night for a “beating,” might make even the calmest, bravest person in the world have a tendency toward panicking, if you ask me!! The two, combined, would explain why my ex-husband, when he would try to awaken me with amorous intentions, would be greeted by full-blown fear, rather than the reciprocation of his “loving” intentions.