panic attack

Article by Panic Attack Care

So just how does a doctor accurately diagnose you with a panic attack disorder? Obviously, it isn’t quite the same type of illness as the flue or strep throat. He can’t tell if you “have a panic attack” like you “have the flu” simply by examining your throat or taking your temperature.

Indeed, by its very nature, a panic attack diagnosis is more involved and intricate, requiring a little more time to uncover than your average common cold.

LIST OF SYMPTOMS DOESN’T MEAN DISORDER

Just because you’ve provided your health care practitioner with a list of your symptoms, doesn’t mean he’s going to immediately rubber stamp it as a panic attack. Before he can do that, he must be sure of the specific disorders or illnesses you absolutely don’t have, like a heart problem or a thyroid condition. Both of these, by the way, produce similar symptoms.

Depending on your specific complaints and your medical history, your doctor will choose from an array of tests and other diagnostic techniques to give you. Undoubtedly, though he’ll start the diagnosis with a physical examination.

THE PHYSICAL EXAM

In addition to taking your height and weight (the classic steps of a physical exam), your health care practitioner will also check your vital signs, including heart rate, blood pressure and temperature. He’ll listen to your lungs and your heart.

This is only the beginning of the diagnostic process. Your next step is a psychological evaluation. Either a doctor or a mental health provider talks to you in order to obtain a deeper and better understanding of your symptoms and to put them in perspective.

He’s likely to ask you such questions as the frequency of your attacks, how you feel during the attack as well as how long you’ve been having them.

The mental health care provider will probably also ask you if there are any stressful situations in your life — and your reaction to these. He may also ask you about your fears in general as well as any problems that he may be experiencing in your relationships.

More likely than not, you’ll complete a psychological self-evaluation or questionnaire. Don’t be surprised if you’re also quizzed about whether you use illegal drugs or about your habits involving alcoholic beverages.

These are al criteria your health care professionals must take into account when making an accurate diagnosis of panic attack disorder. What may be surprising for you to learn however is that one panic attack — and even two — does not a disorder make.

That’s just a poetic way of saying that because you’ve experienced a panic attack, doesn’t mean you actually possess the disorder. For you to be diagnosed with the disorder, you must meet the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association.

This is the manual health care professionals use to diagnosis a mental

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