There are questions that plague humanity day in and day out. They are asked in all walks of life. Our brightest minds and deepest thinkers slave to find answers to these profound queries, yet we make no headway and remain mired in the dreaded uncertainty baked into the Universe.
You know many of these questions.
Chicken or egg?
Coke or Pepsi?
Cup or cone?
Star Wars or Star Trek?
These questions speak directly to our essence as sentient beings and an evolved civilization, but they pale in comparison to a question that gets asked in thousands of mental heath influencer posts every day and likely will until there are no atoms left intact and the universe becomes a cold, thin shadow of its former glory.
Panic attack or anxiety attack?
I know you’ve seem this discussed more times than you can remember. When an anxiety Instagrammer runs out of ideas, this is always on the back burner waiting to be dusted off. “What’s the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack?”
Who even cares? Why does it matter? What do we stand to gain by debating this again and searching desperately for an answer to a question that doesn’t seem like it even needs to be asked?
Let’s just put this to bed by refusing to use the phrases panic attack or anxiety attack ever again. Let’s just start calling them both “transient states of variable discomfort”. Damn. That’s solid. I should write romance book titles with this kind of skill.
Seriously, I know that NOBODY is going to start using the phrase “transient states of variable discomfort” because there’s no clickability in that, but you have to admit, that the phrase does accurately describe both anxiety attacks and panic attacks. In both situations we experience discomfort that varies in intensity both between and within experiences and is transient in nature.
So why must we label these experiences? Are we looking for solutions? Fixes? Strategies? Does accurately defining the boundary between them lead us somewhere closer to a recovered state? Are we somehow treating them differently because they are different things?
No!
In recovery we are learning how to tolerate transient discomfort at all intensity levels. Maybe today you’ll have an anxiety attack. Maybe you’ll have a panic attack. Maybe you’ll just feel generally anxious. Maybe you’ll have a great day and feel awesome from the moment you wake to the moment you fall asleep. The whole point of recovery is to learn that all of those states and all states in between are OK and handle-able. So there is literally no point in paying any more attention to the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack.
Consider them the same thing and know that your “strategy” remains the same regardless of how you are experiencing discomfort within the context of an anxiety disorder and the recovery process.
Next time you see someone post this on social media, don’t feed the algorithm. Don’t click the like button. Scroll on by without stopping. Only you can prevent forest fires, and only you can end the scourge of anxiety attack vs panic attack posts on the Internet. Together we can rid the world of this menace!
Now excuse me while I go and design a few “Transient States Of Variable Discomfort” t-shirts.
Have you listened to this week’s episode of The Anxious Truth podcast? Check it out out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or my website and YouTube channel.
134. Anxiety Attack vs. Panic Attack