My Life

Monday, October 08, 2007

Is love (attraction) a panic attack?

I’m currently taking a clinical assessments class for social work. I have been told that many of us can identify with various diagnoses from the DSM IV TR (the most current edition of the publication put out by the American Psychiatric Association that classifies and defines different psychiatric diagnoses and lists the criteria for them). This weeks study is in the anxiety disorders, the most common diagnosis.

I was struck by a thought as I was reading through the criteria for a panic attack. Panic attacks are not code able by themselves (meaning that they are the basis for other classifications). Many of the criteria put forth coincides with what I’d imagine to be common for people “in love” (by this I don’t mean love as the verb, but an adjective) or being attracted to somebody. Let me list the criteria that I think is relevant (note that these are not all of the criteria).
  • Palpitations (heart skipping a beat), pounding hear, or accelerated heart rate
  • Sweating
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Sensations of shortness of breath
  • Chest discomfort
  • Feeling faint
  • Hot flashes

I know that I have had many of these feelings in the presence of somebody that I was very attracted to. To be considered a panic attack, the person must have at least for of these criteria abruptly start and reach a peak in 10 minutes.


 

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