Psychological defense mechanisms and panic attacks

Individuals can experience a panic attack as a result of other psychological disorders. A panic attack is tremendously unpleasant and terrifying, and people who suffer it frequently can change their lifestyle. This paper will analyze a case study of Debra who is 34 years old married to David, and they have three children. Her husband is an attorney who is always busy and travel quite frequently. In additional to his tight work schedule, he regularly goes out with his friends which, makes Debra feel neglected. Encounters bring tactful into nonverbal awareness aspects of the behavior of a patient (Kernberg, 2016). Debra was able to apply the element of confrontation where she decided to visit the pediatrician due to the fear that she might be suffering from heart attack.

This step will help Debra to deal with the feeling of being neglected by her husband and will enable her to find a better confrontation mechanism to deal with anxiety that may result in health complications. Denial Denial is referred to the period when an individual refuses to consent with the fact or reality by acting as if they are not suffering or the painful situation does not exist. Denial is a primitive defense mechanism because it involves childhood development characteristics. Repression Repression is a process that is defensive where the impulse and instinctual desires of an individual are blocked from interfering with someone conscious. Repression process involves the unacceptance of deemed memories and the involvement of ideas that are censoring unconsciously.

The ego employs the repression to keep threatening and disturbing thoughts from becoming conscious. Repression involves the issues of forcing disturbing wishes, memories or ideas into the unconscious which results in anxiety even though they are hidden. Repression returns transference by embedding the repressed memories within a substantial fantasy constellation (Blum, 2017). Debra is suffering from the issue of imagination where she is strongly suspecting that David is having an affair that is why he is neglecting the family, and yet she cannot confront him to know the truth, but instead she turns a blind eye to the situation. Conclusion A significant number of individual are suffering from a panic attack, but they are not aware of the situation. A panic attack may be as a result of a history of the panic disorder or panic attack.

In regards to the case study, Debra was suffering from a panic attack due to a traumatic event and the significant change in her life where the absence her husband made her feel neglected. The frequency occurrence of a panic attack can lead to complex health issues. McLeod, S. (2017, May 05). Defense Mechanisms. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: https://www. simplypsychology. These steps will help an individual body to recover and repair. The significant steps of responding to stress include the resistance, adaptation, and exhaustion. Failure in addressing the tension at the preliminary stage may result in severe health complications. Step in The Stress Response to A Fearful Stimulus Every stressful situation may leave an ineffaceable scar and organisms becomes weaker after every stressful situation.

The primary stages for dealing with stress are the alarm, resistance and exhaustion stages. The Resistance Stage In most scenario, if the alarm stage does not work, most people will escape the stressful situation where the body progress to the next step which, is the resistance stage where an individual can remain in the alert phase for prolong period. In the resistance stage, the parasympathetic nervous system will try to bring back most of the bodily functions to the pre-stressful level by focusing the resources of the body on the next threat or stressor (Casper, 2018). At this stage, the release of the cortisol decreases and the blood pressure and the heart rates start to normalize. The body remains at a high alert for a more extended period after entering this recovery phase.

After overcoming the stress and the situation is no longer threatening, the body starts to repair itself until the blood pressure, heart rates and hormone levels returns to the pre-stress level. An individual may experience various signs such as burnouts, anxiety, fatigue, depression, and a decrease in stress tolerance. During this stage, an individual may experience the physical effect that may affect and weaken the immune system that exposes someone to diseases related to stress. Conclusion During the fearful stimulus, stress may occur which, may result in an unpleasant situation. The body has to go through various significant steps to respond to the tension before the stress cause severe damages. The fight or flight stress response that occurs during the alarm reaction stage protects an individual, and the higher hormone level at this stage is beneficial to the body where it provides more energy to the body and improves concentration level so that an individual can focus on handling the stressful situation.