A great many of us are familiar with fear and stress. These are normal conditions in our lives and once we pass these troubles we tend to forget about them. Unfortunately there are persons who live with fear and panic their entire lives. For these people panic does not mean a reaction to a normal uncomfortable situation, instead it means wondering when you will be fearful and helpless next. This is what having panic disorder can do to anyone.

Fear disorder is a very bad condition. The feelings arising from this disorder are irrational to the condition. They have a tendency to seem in response to stressful events in our lives. These may be events like getting married, having your first child, even changing your job. Fear disorders usually begin from panic attacks. These can sometimes come during teenage years to early adulthood.

Fear attacks and their symptoms are connected with panic disorder. The symptoms can range from a fast palpitating heart, dizziness, nausea, paralyzing panic, smothering sensations to a panic of death. Sometimes panic disorder can lead to various phobias, substance abuse, medical complications and in extreme cases, suicidal.

The sufferer of panic disorder will live in constant and persistent panic of future panic attacks reoccurring. The effect of living with panic disorder is that you tend to restrict your life in certain areas so that you avoid triggering another panic attack. While we may think that this behavior is strange, for the panic disorder individual this sort of lifestyle tends to be a nightmare.

The effects of panic disorder ranges from minor to being socially impaired to the more severe and weakening condition of agoraphobia, where you are housebound for a big part of your life as you desire to avoid another panic attack. With panic disorder, phobias are usually the result. Here phobias do not develop with regards to specific objects or events in one's life. Instead experiencing a panic attack in different places or conditions will cause the phobia to start itself.

People who may have had 4 or more repeated panic attacks and who think that they might have another such bout of pure mind numbing panic should consult with a psychiatrist who is an specialist in anxiety and panic disorders. This is very critical because the longer your condition is left untreated, the more the quality of your life will deteriorate.

Many therapists concur that the best ways to treat panic disorder is with cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy and in some a combination of these two along with prescription medication. These are all excellent methods to control your panic disorder, but these will remain only methods and not possible cures if you do not take the initiative in seeing a trained specialist as well as finishing the course of treatment.