A 36 year-old female complains of sudden onset of feeling of pounding hea, apprehension and excessive sweating. She fears that she is about to die. Which of the following is the likely diagnosis?
Panic attack is a discrete period of intense fear or discomfo. It is characterised by some of the following symptoms of palpitation, sweating, shaking, shoness of breath, fear of impending death, chest pain or discomfo, nausea or abdominal pain, feeling unreal (realization) and detached (depersonalisation), fear of loosing control, hot flushes and other physical symptoms like paraesthesias. Women are 2-3 times more likely to suffer from a panic disorder. Ref: Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders: DSM-V and Beyond, Edited by Paul F. Dell, John A. O'Neil, 2009, Pages 430-431; Loewenstein & Putnam, 2004.
Conversion Disorder
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
Panic attack
Specific Phobia