One of the biggest hurdles in understanding anxiety attacks is the difficulty in distinguishing the myths from the facts. The following section will help dispel some of the myths. Whether you are reading this book seeking help for yourself or are involved with teaching or helping others, your success will be directly related to the ability to sort myths from facts concerning anxiety attacks. Following are ten of the more common myths and their corresponding facts. Anxiety attacks are caused by medical problems, such as heart disease.
Anxiety attacks can cause a person to pass out while driving.
Anxiety attacks can kill. Just ask any emergency room physician who has seen hundreds of healthy people who had sincerely believed they were going to die from an anxiety attack, leave the hospital well and intact. If a person feels he is going to die, then he will. Feelings, no matter how sincere or powerful, do not change the medical fact a person is not going to die from an anxiety attack. Experiencing extreme anxiety means a person has lost control of himself.