This is not the occasional worry about a test or job interview or the panic one feels when a child is late coming home. Intrusive, unwanted, repetitive thoughts invade. In an effort to banish them, rituals are performed out of a feeling of urgent need. The memory of a terrifying past event keeps returning in frightening, intrusive form. High anxiety is linked to things such as snakes or spiders and to situations like driving over a bridge or being trapped in an elevator.
Social phobia is an extreme form of shyness that cuts people off from human companionship.
Studies show that with appropriate treatment panic disorder improves in nine out of ten cases. New research presented by Gabriella Ba, MD, of the University of Milan, and Matig Mavissakalian, MD, of Case Western Reserve University, has uncovered some successful strategies for keeping panic attacks at bay. The studies suggest the best way to treat panic disorder and how long the treatment should last. A control group received medication alone. It suggests actions one can take to overcome fears, such as breathing from the diaphragm or gradually exposing yourself to whatever is frightening you.