Fear of Losing Control
Fear of losing control is one of the tell-tale signs of anxiety and panic attacks. During an anxiety attack, there is a release of adrenaline into the body which triggers the well known ‘fight or flight’ response. However, in the case of the anxiety sufferer there is no external stimulus to provoke this reaction.
The effects of the adrenaline release can be so intense as to produce a feeling of loss of control in the sufferer, where they feel that they can’t focus their thoughts and have difficulty with rationalizing the situation in which they find themselves.
This feeling of losing one’s mind can be intense and quite scary and is often reported to be one of the most unpleasant symptoms associated with anxiety.
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When one suffers an episode where they fear they are losing their mind, or losing control of themselves, it can have a programming effect on their behavior. Much like electric shocks are used for altering animal behaviour, anxiety attacks have a very strong effect on our behavior, in that an anxiety sufferer will do anything to avoid the situations which trigger their anxiety attacks.
For example, if you are at a shopping mall and have an episode of intense anxiety where you feel a fear of losing control of your mind, you’ll be extremely reluctant to put yourself in such a situation again, because the feelings of panic, dizziness and confusion are so intense and unpleasant that you will not want to go through them again. Of course the reality of the situation is that there is nothing in that mall that can physically, or indeed mentally harm you, but convincing yourself of this once you have had and anxiety episode can be extremely difficult.
As time goes by the anxiety sufferer is likely to have more and more anxiety episodes in a widening variety of situations which they will try to avoid in the future. If untreated, this can develop into severe agoraphobia. At this point, they are in a mindset where they will find it difficult to leave their home at all, even for short periods of time and can become reclusive, believing that the only place they are fully in control of their thoughts is at home, away from the ‘threat’ of the outside world.
As with all symptoms of anxiety and panic, the first step on the road to recovery is to begin to train yourself that your worst fears will not come true. You’re heart maybe be beating like crazy or palpitating, but you won’t have a heart attack. Your breath may be short, but you won’t suffocate and your mind might be racing, and you might feel dazed, confused, dizzy or detached, but you won’t go insane, and when the adrenaline subsides you’ll be able to focus again.
There are many cognitive behavioural therapy based self help programs online for helping you to train yourself into recognizing the basis of anxiety and how to overcome it. I strongly recommend you take a look at a guide like Panic Away which will very quickly help you get a handle on your anxiety and panic symptoms.