Panic
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Panic is a sudden sensation of
Etymology
The word "panic" derives from antiquity and is a tribute to the ancient god
Psychology
The
A panic attack is a sudden period of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain, shaking, shortness of breath, numbness, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing control. Typically, symptoms reach a peak within ten minutes of onset, and last for roughly 30 minutes, but the duration can vary from seconds to hours. Though distressing, panic attacks themselves are not physically dangerous. They can either be triggered or occur unexpectedly.
In psychology, there is an identified condition called panic disorder that has been described as a specific psychological vulnerability of people to interpret normal physical sensations in a catastrophic way.[3] It is related strongly to biological and psychological factors and their interactions.[4] Leonard J. Schmidt and Brooke Warner describe panic as "that terrible, profound emotion that stretches us beyond our ability to imagine any experience more horrible" adding that "physicians like to compare painful clinical conditions on some imagined 'Richter scale' of vicious, mean hurt … to the psychiatrist there is no more vicious, mean hurt than an exploding and personally disintegrating panic attack."[5]
Panic attacks can occur due to several other disorders including social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorder, depression, and medical problems.
Panic in social psychology is considered infectious since it can spread to a multitude of people and those affected are expected to act irrationally as a consequence.[6] Psychologists identify different types of this panic event with slightly varying descriptions, which include mass panic, mass hysteria, mass psychosis, and social contagion.[7]
An influential theoretical treatment of panic is found in Neil J. Smelser's Theory of Collective Behavior. The science of panic management has found important practical applications in the armed forces and emergency services of the world.
Effects
Prehistoric humans used mass panic as a technique when hunting animals, especially ruminants. Herds reacting to unusually strong sounds or unfamiliar visual effects were directed towards cliffs, where they eventually jumped to their deaths when cornered.[citation needed]
Humans are also vulnerable to panic and it is often considered infectious, in the sense one person's panic may easily spread to other people nearby and soon the entire group acts irrationally, but people also have the ability to prevent and/or control their own and others' panic by disciplined thinking or training (such as disaster drills).
Many highly publicized cases of deadly panic occurred during massive public events. The layout of
See also
- Panic attack – Period of intense fear
- Anxiety – Unpleasant state of inner turmoil over anticipated events
- Fight-or-flight response – Physiological reaction to a perceived threat or harmful event
- Angst – Intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety, or inner turmoil
- Collective behavior – Sociological theory
- Collective identity – Shared sense of belonging to a group
- Emotion – Conscious subjective experience of humans
- Hysteria – Excess, ungovernable emotion
- Kernel panic – Fatal error condition associated with Unix-like computer operating systems
- Moral panic – Fear that some evil threatens society
- Financial crisis – Situation in which financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value
- Panic disorder – Anxiety disorder characterized by reoccurring unexpected panic attacks
- Panic Saturday (Super Saturday) – The last Saturday before Christmas; a major Christmas-shopping day in the USA, last Saturday before Christmas
- Panic! at the Disco – American pop rock band (2004–2023)
References
- ^ "Definition of Panic by Merriam-Webster".
- ISBN 9780231144568.
- ISBN 9781337619370.
- ISBN 9781285755618.
- ^ Leonard J. Schmidt and Brooke Warner (eds), Panic: Origins, Insight, and Treatment (Berkeley CA: North Atlantic Books, 2002), xiii
- ISBN 9789402412628.
- ISBN 9781544308890.
- ].
- ^ Castelvecchi, Davide (2007-04-07), "Formula for Panic: Crowd-motion findings may prevent stampedes", Science News Online
External links
- Panic! How it works and What To Do About It — by Bruce Tognazzini.
- "Panic: Myth or Reality?" — Professor Lee Clarke, Contexts Magazine, 2002. (Article available as PDF from Lee Clarke's website Archived 2016-01-05 at the Wayback Machine)