Question

While watching television one day, Karlene experienced a rush of anxiety, accompanied with a pounding heart, numbness in her fingers and toes, violent shaking and chest pains which left her gasping for air. Thinking she had just experienced a heart attack, she went to the emergency room, but all test results were negative. 5 months later she experienced another episode on her way to work. A third attack occurred 3 weeks thereafter, and soon the attacks picked up in frequency. She soon become so preoccupied with the fear of having an attack that she could not concentrate on her work. what psychoanalytic theory is she facing

Answer 1

The signs and symptoms in Karlene indicate an Anxiety Disorder of Panic Attack. This panic attack of her is without Agoraphobia as her symptoms do not indicate an avoidance of public places. The signs and symptoms of panic attack and heart attack are moreover similar. There are subtle differences which are that the pain during a heart attack is crushing and it begins from the center of the chest, travels to the arm and back. Also, people do not hyperventilate during an heart attack which occurs during panic attack.