A lecture I attended some years ago to learn some more about these attacks was of little value. The psychiatrist who presented it began by asking how many in the audience had ever experienced a panic attack. A scattering of hands went up. He said that he also had suffered from these attacks. But at the end of the lecture, when asked to pin-point the actual cause of the attacks, he did not have a ready answer.
Medical treatment consists mostly of anti-anxiety medication and being told to watch stress.
Even if the doctor understands that hyperventilation can lead to panic, he will likely do little more than recommend breathing into a paper bag for a few minutes to help rebalance the level of carbon dioxide in the blood stream. John John came to me to get help with intense anxiety. As a manager, he often had to make presentations. When he was called on to lead a meeting or talk to groups, he would become so panicked that he was thinking of quitting his job just to avoid being put in this position. After John left my office, I reached for a new book that had just arrived in the mail.