The phobia stimulus can sometimes be endured, but with marked distress. Normally, someone with a phobia will avoid the object or situation at all costs. Somewhere from two to five percent of the population suffers panic attacks . These are very intense, frightening experiences, when the pulse elevates. One becomes sweaty, dizzy, and terrified, and one begins to think irrational thoughts.
Hyperventilation can also occur.
Often those undergoing panic attacks think that they are either having a heart attack or dying. These attacks greatly diminish the quality of life of the sufferer, and often they cause clinical depressiong and thoughts of suicide. The sufferer no longer enjoys the people and activities that they once did, and they withdraw from family and friends. In a stressful situation, the sufferer often has catastrophic misinterpreations of events, in which they perceive a normal reaction to stress as deadly or harmful. Distorted thoughts only increase the level of anxiety.