panic

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Illustration in Charles Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals

Panic is a state of intense fear of an actual or perceived threat. It is a strong stress reaction of the organism to an often unexpected and frightening situation and is associated with a variety of vegetative, physical and psychological symptoms. Under certain circumstances, this can lead to a limitation of the higher human abilities.

If panic does not occur because of an actual threatening or stressful situation, one speaks of a panic disorder ; some form of anxiety disorder .

The word panic ( ancient Greek πανικός panikós ) is derived from the Greek shepherd god Pan (Πάν), from whom the legend went that in the greatest silence of noon he could send entire herds to sudden and apparently senseless mass flight with a loud scream (“panic Horror ”, ancient Greek πανικόν δεῖμα panikón deima - see also: Stampede ).

Situational panic

Panic can occur in a variety of everyday contexts. Often a horrific event is the trigger; but sometimes there is also no rational relationship between the extent of the panic and the actual danger.

Individual panic

In threatening situations, people can react very differently depending on their personality traits, the respective social context and the subjectively perceived degree of danger. The efficiency of the brain is greatest in the area of ​​medium activation, and functional and purposeful action takes place. As the degree of stress increases, the spectrum of human behavior can be restricted and fear increasingly become a motive that guides action. As fear increases, it is possible that human reactions may become non-rational and non-social. For example, paralyzing rigidity or headless escape behavior can occur. This unreasonable and inappropriate behavior is known as panic behavior. Empirical studies (autumn 1996) have shown, however, that even when their lives are in danger, only a small proportion of those affected react in panic in this sense.

Many panic researchers agree that the term panic, especially in the media, is often unjustified and used more for dramatic reasons. In reality, the so-called panic behavior is often a comprehensible reaction to an extreme stressful situation, which seems illogical and unexpected to an uninvolved and outside observer.

Psychology understands panic, among other things, as a psychological and physical means of expression of the individual to make other people aware of their own life-threatening situation and thereby activate their help. Panksepp (1999) distinguishes between a panic system and a fear system on the basis of results from animal research. Further results from attachment and infant research suggest that such systems are activated in humans, similar to animals, in a dangerous situation. Fighting or flight behavior focused on danger occurs when the fear system is activated, which is associated with the sympathetic nervous system . The panic system, however, is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system and leads to distress vocalizations (crying or screaming) or a freeze reaction (muscular freezing in the event of a high degree of vegetative excitement). Another reaction that goes beyond the freeze reaction of the panic system and apparently only occurs in humans is dissociation (interruption of the integrative functions of consciousness or memory). The panic system is mainly activated when escape seems impossible and the fight is hopeless.

Collective panic

Panic, Fourth National Bank, New York, 1873

In close groups, people can observe their mutual actions, react to them and thereby communicate with one another. This led the mass psychology founded by Gustave Le Bon to the assumption that this interaction leads to the formation of a mass soul. According to Le Bon's mass psychology, the individual is subject to the masses, which leads to a loss of sense of responsibility and an increase in norm-violating and irrational behavior. This suggests that the masses in a dangerous situation could become infected with the fear of individual panicked people and that the frightened people also mutually reinforce their panic. Furthermore, the crowd is connected to one another due to the crowd psychological effects with regard to the escape impulse. Just because of a panic infection, a whole crowd suddenly and collectively rushes to the exits. This is known as mass panic .

Mass panics are particularly dangerous if, for example, a fire in a closed room causes many people to lose their self-control at the same time. In the overpowering escape reflex, weaker people are then often blindly knocked over and trampled down. Doors are blocked by clusters of people, because the urge to leave prevents more effective successions. So-called breakwaters are often used in such outlets at risk of clogging to increase safety . However, the concept of mass panic as a major problem in disasters is scientifically controversial.

Panic in specific situations

Example diving

When diving , panic can be triggered if the unusually low visibility range at night or in cloudy water falls below the individual escape distance . Problems with the supply of breathing gas are also possible triggers. The strongest impulse triggered by panic underwater is the urge to surface uncontrollably. However, uncontrolled, rapid ascent must be prevented under all circumstances, as otherwise life-threatening accidents, for example decompression sickness, threaten . Thorough training and frequent emergency response training can prevent panic in general. The buddy also plays a very important role: trust in the buddy’s abilities increases self-confidence, and in an emergency, the partner’s prudent and quick action can save lives.

Example sport flying

Less experienced motorized pilots sometimes panic when an unfamiliar situation occurs while flying. This can be triggered by shaking the aircraft when crossing a weather front, but also by a sudden change or even a technical failure of the instrument displays. Most often, panic occurs in flight when there is a loss of orientation, such as impaired vision. In some training aircraft, a (non-functioning) mocking panic button ( panic button ) is attached in the cockpit to adjust the student pilots to this situation . Warwitz describes and comments on the nightmare flight of a kite pilot who staggers from panic to panic: First he fears the stall in a gust of wind, then the suction of a cloud and finally not finding the landing place.

Panic as a symptom of illness

Panic and panic-like states with disease value occur as symptoms in numerous organic and mental illnesses. Panic symptoms are also the leading symptom of panic disorder. A panic attack is defined as a sudden attack with an extreme feeling of fear, which occurs for no specific reason out of total well-being. The person affected develops subjectively experienced dramatic physical symptoms (e.g. racing heart, dizziness, sweating, feeling weak, shortness of breath, etc.). The symptoms can vary from one affected person to another. The symptoms usually increase very quickly in the first few minutes and subside after about 10 to 30 minutes. Symptoms only last longer in rare cases.

The symptoms often have a strong influence on everyday life. Many sufferers try to avoid certain situations in which they suspect the cause of the panic attack. This can also lead to so-called claustrophobia ( agoraphobia ). Withdrawal and isolation are common consequences. Panic disorder is the repetitive occurrence of panic attacks. The fear of the next attack can contribute to the repetition due to the associated stress and tension.

Dealing with panic

In a panic situation, the actor loses self-control and thus control of a situation, which can be extremely threatening in the event of an acute, real danger. The avoidance of such a situation can only be achieved - starting from the person affected - through psychological stabilization on the basis of a stable self-confidence. This must be based on the awareness of one's own ability and the repeatedly proven successful risk management in simulated situations. When flying and other daring acts, possible crisis situations must be played out regularly under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher. The method of gradually approaching dangerous events and collecting relevant emergency experience is part of normal training in venture sports . In addition, it must be avoided to put oneself in a stressful danger situation already stressed.

If a panic situation has nevertheless arisen, it can be helpful to consciously register the physical symptoms without evaluating them as pathological. Consciously enduring the panic experience, including the eventual subsidence of the symptoms, helps to increase or regain confidence in one's own body. In any case, avoidance strategies should be avoided in such a way that certain places or situations are avoided that were associated with panic experiences in the past. It is part of the self-awareness and self-discipline of the responsible personality to accept life situations that are demonstrably beyond one's own capabilities in order to avoid panic failures. However, dealing with dangerous situations is basically learnable and requires learning.

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Panik  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Berzewski: The psychiatric emergency. Springer-Verlag, p. 146.
  2. ↑ Agata Maria Schabowska: Prediction of panic disorders, agoraphobias and somatoform disorders after acute unilateral failure of the balance organ. (Dissertation) Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Carite, Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
  3. ^ Sigmund Freud: Massenpsychologie und I-Analyze, in: Questions of society, origins of religion, S. Fischer, Frankfurt 1974, ISBN 9783108227098 , p. 91
  4. ↑ Bernhard Schneider: The simulation of human panic behavior. Springer, p. 48.
  5. ↑ Bernhard Schneider: The simulation of human panic behavior. Springer, p. 23.
  6. ↑ Manuel Rupp: Emergency soul: Outpatient emergency and crisis intervention in psychiatry. P. 42.
  7. ↑ Ulrich Sachsse: Trauma-centered psychotherapy. Schattauer, 2004, p. 34.
  8. ↑ Christian Zacherle: Crowd Management - possibilities of prevention and intervention. GRIN Verlag, p. 16.
  9. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Flying - the fulfillment of a dream . In: Ders .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . Baltmannsweiler 2001. pp. 87-92
  10. ↑ Jürgen Margraf, Silvia Schneider: Textbook of behavior therapy: Volume 1. Basics, diagnostics, procedures, framework conditions. 3. Edition. Springer publishing house. Heidelberg, 2009. Chapter 26.3, page 453
  11. ↑ Fabian Andor: Not all panic is the same. Dissertation, Philosophical Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Offenburg 2008, pp. 10-14.
  12. ↑ Causes and Symptoms of Panic Disorder
  13. ↑ Causes of a Panic Attack
  14. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The miraculous effect of the car. In: Ders .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . Baltmannsweiler 2001. pp. 13-25