Mr. Harper called a psychologist for his daughter after an oral that would have gone wrong. He thinks then recognize a few symptoms of panic disorder : rapid heartbeat, sweating, blushing and she was focus on classmates judgment therefore she couldn’t stop stammer. Nevertheless, she was able to achieve her presentation (but he is worried).
Many people make conflation between panic disorder and normal stress related to specifics contexts. This topic is relevant today because many terms are borrowed from medical lexicon and this leads people to confuse the normal and the pathological. That’s why it’s really important to inform about what a panic disorder is as well as acute stress in a specific situation, so that people can have a better understanding about the normal and the pathological. We don’t have to forget that physiological stress allows us to manage some situations. It is supposed to increase the level of vigilance and concentration. Depending on the diagnosis, the management of the symptoms will be different. This is the reason why this subject is complex.
Indeed, a panic disorder is characterized by sudden attacks of terror, with somatic manifestations like rapid heartbeat, sweating, weakness but also dizziness, fear of losing control and fear of dying (Carre, 2011). Moreover, these situations are repeated and life is adapted by avoiding risky situations (Carre, 2011). Here, the situation occurred only once and her daughter was able to regain control of the situation. It would seem better to offer her a therapeutic treatment in sophrology to manage her stress. This method allows a greater resistance to stress while avoiding or reducing problems of psychosomatic origin, according to some authors, in the case of exams (Etchelecou (2015) ; Fiorletta & Gosjean, 2012). It also increases the quality of life (Fiorletta & Gosjean, 2012).
To conclude, the boundary between the normal and the pathological is thin when these situations tend to regulate, intensify or generalize and at that point people avoid consultations fearing stigma and diagnosis (Carre, 2011). Owing to this close link between these two entities, it is necessary to make available awareness-raising times in order to be able to inform and guide anyone to a care that is adapted to their needs.
Alice Pluvinage, Mathilde Ollivier