Psychogenic dizziness: why you feel dizzy

Panic disorder is a disease in which repeated attacks of severe anxiety occur - panic. They cannot always be associated with any situation or circumstances, and therefore cannot be foreseen.

During a panic attack, a feeling of extreme fear and discomfort in the body, vegetative disorders (increased breathing, heartbeat, sweating) occurs, which can last from 5 to 30 minutes. As a rule, panic reaches its maximum within 10 minutes. The experiences and sensations are so strong that they sometimes require emergency medical (psychiatric) help.

The first panic episode is usually preceded by increased anxiety or prolonged depression. Most often, panic disorder begins between the ages of 18 and 40, although in my 20 years of practice there have been cases that fall outside the designated age range.

However, it is important to distinguish extreme anxiety from a panic attack.

Increased anxiety, unlike panic attacks, is associated with various events and activities: business, study, health, and so on. In this case, you may experience a feeling of fear, muscle tension, sweating, trembling, discomfort in the stomach, fear of an accident or illness. The experience of emotions is unpleasant, but does not reach the level of panic.

Panic attacks are characterized by the fact that they occur for no apparent reason. Sometimes even in a dream. Moreover, it is interesting that at night, panic attacks, according to observations, occur in strong-willed people, because during the daytime a person keeps all stress and emotions within himself, controlling his vegetative reactions, and at night, when control of consciousness stops, he suddenly develops panic attacks.

Understanding that you are having a panic attack is quite simple:

During an attack, at least 4 of the following 14 symptoms must be observed:

1. Feeling of lack of air, fear of suffocation.
2. Unexpected feeling of physical weakness, dizziness.
3. Pre-fainting state.
4. Increased or rapid heartbeat.
5. Trembling or tremor.
6. Increased sweating, often profuse sweating.
7. Feeling of suffocation.
8. Nausea, discomfort in the stomach and intestines.
9. Derealization (the feeling that objects are not real) and depersonalization (as if one’s self is distant or “not here”).
10. Feeling of numbness or crawling sensations in various parts of the body.
11. Feeling hot or cold.
12. Pain or discomfort in the chest area.
13. Fear of death - either from a heart attack or due to suffocation.
14. Fear of losing self-control (doing something illegal) or going crazy.

Of the listed symptoms, most of them are represented by pronounced autonomic disorders, which are nonspecific in nature - that is, they occur not only during panic attacks.

The diagnosis of “panic disorder” is made if the attacks are not a consequence of taking drugs, medications or somatic diseases.

However, in rare cases there are attacks when there are fewer than four symptoms. Such attacks are considered undeveloped. They pass faster and are easier to tolerate.

There are two main questions that worry people after the first panic. The first is why did it arise? Second - how to get rid of panic? A lot has been written about this on the Internet, but finding comprehensive, reliable information is not easy.

So what causes panic disorder?

Conventionally, the reasons that influence the occurrence of a panic attack can be divided into three groups. The first two groups create background anxiety, which depletes the nervous system and contributes to a panic attack. The third group represents the actual mechanism for reproducing panic attacks.

Symptoms of psychogenic dizziness

Psychosomatic dizziness is a complex of symptoms in the form of:

• lightheadedness;
• feelings of intoxication;
• anxiety;
• tension;
• darkening before the eyes;
• loss of balance;
• tinnitus;
• sensations of rotation of surrounding objects;
• lack of oxygen;
• increasing anxiety, severe nervousness.

Symptoms usually occur spontaneously, but usually the person begins to notice that the cause is a specific situation (for example, a fear of closed spaces or when a person begins to be among crowds).

Almost always, vertigo in depression is accompanied by hyperventilation, muscle spasms, and tachycardia, which indicates its vegetative nature.

How to distinguish from physiological vertigo

The main clinical sign that allows psychogenic dizziness to be distinguished from physiological (true, DPP) is that it is accompanied by a chain of interrelated processes. Emotional anxiety provokes depression, depression aggravates anxiety.

This affects the somatic nervous system, causing lightheadedness and dizziness. Vertigo can be sporadic or constant.

1st group. Disturbances in the usual way of life.

This group includes everything that makes a habitually comfortable life uncomfortable. For example:

• deterioration of relationships, conflicts, separation from significant people;
• serious illness or death of loved ones;
• moving to a new place of residence;
• voluntary or forced resignation from work;
• deterioration of financial situation or instability (unpaid loans and/or mortgages);
• litigation;
• prolonged lack of sleep, disturbances in the rhythm of day and night;
• overwork due to overload in the profession, study or everyday life;
• accelerated pace of life;
• overstrain when raising children;
• various somatic diseases;
• unbalanced diet;
• situations when children begin to live separately, etc.

These disturbances in living conditions always lead to anxiety and tension, usually aimed at restoring the disturbed conditions and relationships. If conditions continue to be uncomfortable, then anxiety becomes the foundation on which a panic episode can later occur.

2nd group. Life situations in which it is not possible to realize any important need.

At the same time, the way out of the situation most often, according to personal ideas, is not satisfactory. For example, you can highlight the following needs:

• personal safety;
• satisfying sexual relationships;
• significant position in society;
• self-realization in activities (profession, business);
• close emotional relationships with other people.

A job that doesn’t suit you can interfere with the satisfaction of important needs—let’s say, for some reason you don’t have the opportunity to change it. Or an environment that does not appreciate you and belittles your merits. A country where there is no opportunity to realize oneself. This state of affairs leads to an increase in internal tension and anxiety, which can also contribute to the occurrence of panic attacks.

I think you have noticed that in the current situation with coronavirus, many people have reasons from the two listed groups in their lives. If they were there before, then there could be more of them. Forced isolation, an imposed alien lifestyle, fear of getting sick and dying in relation to oneself and loved ones, loss of business, unpaid loans, loss of livelihood, uncertainty of the future, lack of objective and a large amount of negative information - all this does not contribute to peace of mind and mental health.

Whether panic disorder occurs or not depends on the characteristics of the individual and the traumatic situation, as well as the individual’s ability to independently cope with this situation.

If a panic attack does occur, then the following, third group of reasons is at work. In this case, they talk about triggers, that is, the reasons that directly trigger the attack. In this case, it is extremely important to correctly identify them and “cancel the launch.”

What can you do during a panic state?

The first panic occurs suddenly and in an environment that does not pose any danger. This fact alone is very frightening, and it seems that the reason is in the body. The sensations are strong - beyond ordinary experience. There is nothing to compare them with and nothing to connect them with. The fear of death arises. It is very important at this moment to know that, no matter how bad it is, panic does not kill and it will end. This thought can be communicated by someone who is nearby and helps to calm down, distracting from bad thoughts. In this case, panic is experienced more easily and there is less fear of it. What help in case of panic might look like, for example, can be seen in the film “Parker” with Jason Statham. In it, the film's hero calms down a panicked security guard (moment from 8:20 to 9:53).

However, in life it happens differently. There is no support, panic is experienced alone, health workers do not really explain anything.

Examples of panic attacks (from real practice)

A man in warm clothes stands in line at the checkout counter in a store in winter. Suddenly it becomes hot, sweating, heart palpitations, breathing quickens, there is a desire to drop everything and go outside, fear of death from a heart attack.

Another man is moving things from one car to another on a hot summer day. The heartbeat increases, there is a feeling of lack of air, weakness in the arms and legs, a feeling that you might fall, and a fear of death.

The third man was driving along the highway. Suddenly there is a palpitation, a feeling of lack of air, fever, sweating, and fear of death.

A young woman on vacation sits in a cafe, drinks coffee. There is a rapid heartbeat, trembling in the hands and body, difficulty breathing, and fear of death.

In all of these cases there was no real danger in the environment. The first panic can be compared to a thunderstorm that overtook a person in an open field. It will get wet, but then it will dry. It can rush around in search of shelter, drink something for courage, if available, hide or continue on its way. Neither fear nor body movements affect the duration of a thunderstorm. The cloud will go away and the storm will end. And whether to always be afraid of thunderstorms after this, carry an umbrella or something soothing and warming, look at the sky or continue to live, everyone decides for themselves.

Depending on how the first panic was experienced—whether the person waited it out on his own or took sedative pills or received injections—this model of coping becomes the main one. In my practice, I have noticed that those who wait out the first panic attacks without medication cope with them faster in the future. The reason is that they rely more on themselves than on medications.

To free yourself from panic attacks, everyone who experiences them should first of all be helped to rethink and change their attitude towards these conditions. After this, the fear of experiencing a panic episode again subsides, and over time the attacks stop.

The next step is work aimed at eliminating the circumstances and causes that contribute to the emergence of panic. To make it clear what I mean, let's return to the examples above.

A man who became ill in a store. General Director. I was finishing the house. He needed money for this, so he could not leave a position from which he was very tired. There was a plan for the whole family to live in a big house. Relationships with my wife and family went wrong. The idea of ​​a shared house collapsed. I didn't know what to do next.

Another man. Graduated from college. Educational work is in question. I played a lot of computer games at night and slept very little. The family business was of no interest, which is why constant conflicts with parents began to arise. I broke up with my girlfriend.

The third was working in one city, the family remained in another. My daughter had an accident and was injured. There was an urgent need to help family members. Inability to leave work. Litigation. I was forced to travel between cities.

Woman in a cafe. A close relative of hers was diagnosed with a tumor. I was afraid of something like this happening to me. Quarrels with my husband over the birth of another child. Troubles with business, which deprived me of a stable income.

Despite completely different life stories, all these people are united by unsettledness in the present and uncertainty of the future, reinforced by negative expectations.

Complex treatment

How to treat psychogenic dizziness? Therapy is carried out using medicinal and non-medicinal methods, with preference given to the latter:

• psychotherapy;
• gymnastics to improve the vestibular periphery;
• breathing exercises to improve vascular tone.

The main goal of therapy is to change the internal attitude towards traumatic situations in such a way that disturbing symptoms and vertigo do not occur. This is a difficult task, as it requires a lot of work on yourself and your fears.

The patient’s diet is also reviewed; it is necessary to take vitamins C and A. They are contained in the following products:

• citrus fruits (oranges, lemons);
• beef liver;
• fish fat;
• carrot;
• rose hip;
• persimmon;
• strawberry;
• black currant;
• fatty dairy products;
• sprouted grain crops.

The correct diet and the content of all necessary vitamins, macro- and microelements in the diet are important. It is recommended to eat at the same time, portions should be small, and meals should be frequent. Among the medications for the treatment of psychogenic dizziness, the following drugs are prescribed:

All of the above drugs are prescribed by a doctor and taken in long courses until a positive effect is achieved, when the patient feels better.

Folk remedies

Since the priority for the treatment of psychogenic dizziness is non-drug means, folk recipes are welcome. Let's name some unconventional methods on how to get rid of vertigo at home:

1. Aromatherapy with juniper and orange oil.
2. Oregano infusion: pour 2 tbsp. l. herbs 0.5 liters of boiling water.
3. Lavender infusion: 1 tbsp. l. herbs per glass of boiling water.

You can eat pomegranate and drink ginger tea half an hour before each meal. Although such methods do not give quick results, with long-term use they help fight vertigo.

So, how to get rid of panic attacks?

The fastest and surest way is to consult a psychotherapist or psychologist. It is advisable to look for specialists who deal with panic conditions without the use of medications. There are not many of them, but they exist.

How to ease an attack on your own when there is no way to seek the help of a specialist or when panic takes you by surprise?

If you feel like you're about to panic, try one of these simple steps.

Call someone on the phone to distract yourself. Start a conversation with the person who happens to be nearby. You can distract yourself with a painful stimulus - for example, by snapping your hand with a rubber band on your wrist or pinching yourself. Take a sedative that helps you, preferably herbal. You can breathe into a paper bag: first exhale, then inhale. At this moment, the carbon dioxide content in the blood increases and the nervous system is inhibited. Brain cells become less excitable. I would like to separately note that the desire to breathe by opening a window does not work in this case. If you have a feeling that an attack is about to occur, then you can go for a run or go for a jog if panic finds you at home. As your breathing and heart rate increase, adrenaline begins to be used naturally. As a result, what is happening is identified not with panic, but with logical manifestations of physical activity. This doesn't help everyone. Works more often for young people.

Psychogenic dizziness: why you feel dizzy

Dizziness is a problem that worries many contemporaries. More than 5% of all inhabitants of the globe turn to neurological doctors with the question of why they feel dizzy. In clinical practice, the complaint of dizziness ranks second in terms of frequency of treatment by patients, giving way to headache. Dizziness affects people regardless of gender. This symptom spares no one: neither a child, nor a teenager, nor a mature person, nor an elderly person. Attacks of dizziness can occur with different frequencies: both extremely rarely and regularly. A crisis accompanied by dizziness can have a different duration: from one minute to several hours. Many ordinary people believe that the provocateurs of dizziness are exclusively physiological reasons - defects and pathologies of organs and systems. However, along with the existing systemic dizziness that has arisen for somatic and neurological reasons, the psychogenic type of anomaly is widespread. The issue of diagnosis and treatment of psychogenic dizziness is one of the most difficult tasks in clinical practice. At this stage of medical development, there are no clear diagnostic criteria for determining this symptom. Difficulties in determining the type of dizziness and subsequent selection of a treatment regimen are primarily due to the fact that this phenomenon is described by abstract, abstract concepts. A person’s description of his condition is a subjective assessment of what is happening. People have completely different meanings for the concept of “dizziness”. Psychogenic dizziness: how the disorder manifests itself

Most people by dizziness mean the existing uncertainty in the location of their body in the surrounding space. A person may feel that his body is rotating, staggering, or tilting. Also, a patient with dizziness may feel that the objects around him are not static: they move along different trajectories in space. Some people put a different meaning into the concept of “dizziness,” complaining about lack of stability and loss of balance. A person may also complain that he cannot maintain his balance because the ground “shakes” under his feet. Others describe their sensations as a feeling of lightheadedness, emptiness, or lightheadedness that accompanies darkening of the eyes. The third category of patients, dizziness, means a pre-fainting state in which a person is overcome by an obsessive anticipation of an impending loss of consciousness. Psychogenic dizziness may coexist with other autonomic symptoms and mental defects. Very often, the following conditions are accompanying this phenomenon:

• nausea and vomiting;
• increased sweating, both of the whole body and individual areas, for example: moisturizing the palms;
• a sharp change in blood pressure, most often a drop in systolic and diastolic pressure to critically low levels;
• change in heart rate, its acceleration or deceleration, arrhythmia of heart contractions, weak pulse;
• involuntary rapid oscillatory movements of the eyes - a phenomenon called nystagmus;
• sudden hearing loss, partial or complete deafness;
• a feeling of fullness in the ears, a feeling of extraneous annoying noises and sounds;
• congestion in one or both ears;
• the illusion that surrounding objects are rotating;
• discomfort in the abdominal area;
• painful pale skin;
• sudden onset of muscle weakness, fatigue, loss of energy;
• difficulty taking a breath, feeling of lack of air;
• sudden darkening of the eyes;
• hot flashes and subsequent chills;
• sensation of a “lump” in the throat;
• unquenchable thirst, dry mouth;
• tremor of the limbs.

Very often, a patient suffering from psychogenic dizziness describes his condition as a phenomenon similar in sensations to alcohol intoxication. He says that he is losing the ability to control his body, and he is having strange and illogical thoughts. He is haunted by the images that appear - visual illusions and hallucinations. Very often, an attack of psychogenic dizziness is accompanied by the following mental symptoms:

• intense irrational fear;
• obsessive anxiety for one's own life;
• fear of going crazy;
• fear of falling, losing consciousness, getting injured;
• obsession with one's own untimely death.

A patient with frequent episodes of psychogenic dizziness over time begins to notice a significant deterioration in mnestic and cognitive functions. He cannot concentrate on the task at hand and is distracted by various stimuli. It is very difficult for him to complete the work he has begun due to distractibility, which is combined with the rapid onset of fatigue. A subject suffering from psychogenic dizziness cannot tolerate prolonged mental stress and quickly tires from physical activity. Another symptom characteristic of people with psychogenic dizziness is memory impairment. A person has difficulty remembering new information. It is difficult for him to extract the required information from memory reservoirs. Often he cannot find the right words to describe a banal phenomenon. This decline in mental activity can be explained by the fact that the subject’s thinking is constantly occupied with obsessive thoughts about some vague phenomena, be it an inevitably “sad” future, “disgusting” health, problems of personal unsettlement. Psychogenic dizziness: why an unpleasant symptom occurs.
A distinctive characteristic of psychogenic dizziness from other similar conditions is the existing causes of the development of the disorder.
This phenomenon in its formation does not depend on physiological causes: somatic diseases, neurological diseases. Psychogenic dizziness is the result of an individual’s unresolved internal conflicts and psychological problems. The cause of psychogenic dizziness is a specific characterological portrait of a person. The clinical picture of the disease and the study of personality characteristics suggest that this disorder is often observed in people with a high level of anxiety. Such individuals react violently to any irritants and tend to worry about trifles. They often feel tense and constrained. Their hallmarks are nervousness and irritability. It is very difficult for them to relax and distract themselves from annoying thoughts. Their mood often changes to polar phenomena - from deep melancholy and depression to carelessness and euphoria. Psychogenic dizziness almost always does not exist as an isolated independent symptom, but is adjacent to other signs characteristic of pathological psychotic and neurotic conditions. Numerous clinical studies of patients suffering from this anomaly have led to the conclusion that psychogenic dizziness is one of the symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders. Most patients who complain of periodic attacks of dizziness have various phobias. Among phobic disorders, the palm belongs to agoraphobia - an irrational fear of open spaces. In a person with agoraphobia, an episode of dizziness is observed when the person finds himself in deserted areas or spacious areas. Very often there is a feeling of loss of one’s own “I”, a feeling of weightlessness of one’s body. The surrounding environment is perceived as a fuzzy, unreal picture. Dizziness often occurs with siderodromophobia - a panicky fear of transport. Staying in public transport causes an attack of dizziness in sick people, combined with a feeling of suffocation, lack of air, discomfort and tightness in the chest. An episode of dizziness may indicate a crisis in anthropophobia - a pathological fear of crowds. As soon as the subject finds himself in crowded places, he feels a sudden, severe weakness, lightheadedness, and blurred vision. Also, the causes of periodic attacks of dizziness are a variety of social phobias, both isolated and generalized. The disorder peaks when a person is adversely affected by specific triggers. For some people, taking school exams becomes an object of fear. For another category of patients, an attack of dizziness is associated with contacts with certain groups of people, for example: with superiors. Still others feel the onset of fainting when they come face to face with members of the opposite sex. There are many people whose psychogenic dizziness is associated with a fear of flying and an irrational fear of heights. The cause of an occasional attack may also be a pronounced fear of dental treatment. In fact, any encounter with the object of their fear in people suffering from anxiety-phobic disorders may be accompanied by episodes of imbalance, dizziness and lightheadedness. Feelings of impending fainting and dizziness can occur in people who have weakened vascular tone and suffer from vegetative-vascular dystonia. In people with NCD, when exposed to intense stress factors, it triggers a cascade of various autonomic reactions. Along with a change in heart rate and the appearance of shortness of breath, people complain of darkening in the eyes, a squeezing headache and dizziness. The cause of psychogenic dizziness can also be asthenic status. Asthenia is characterized by neuropsychic weakness, which is manifested by a decrease in tolerance to physical activity, mental work, and stress factors. A person in an asthenic state complains of general weakness, fatigue that does not go away after rest, lack of vitality, loss of energy, and lack of vigor. A deterioration in the well-being of a patient with asthenia is observed after considerable mental and physical exertion. An unhealthy state in asthenics occurs when there is a sudden change in weather conditions. Constant symptoms of asthenic status are squeezing and constricting headaches, a feeling of a stale, foggy head and dizziness. Another cause of psychogenic dizziness and lightheadedness are various affective disorders - depression. Very often, anticipation of an imminent loss of consciousness is recorded in hypochondriacal depression, when the subject is convinced that he is suffering from a life-threatening illness. The person is dominated by ideas about exaggerated disruption of the functioning of internal organs. He is convinced that treatment is futile and is confident that the disease will have an unfavorable outcome. His obsessive anxiety concerns associated with the fear of death are very often accompanied by regular attacks of panic attacks, at the start of which the subject experiences dizziness. Dizziness often manifests itself immediately after intense stress. For example, in a situation where the subject received tragic news. Acute stress triggers a chain of specific reactions in the body. A sharp change in blood pressure, respiratory dysfunction, rapid restructuring of the heart provoke unpleasant symptoms, such as: darkening before the eyes, flying “spots”, a feeling of emptiness in the head, severe muscle weakness, a feeling that the ground is disappearing from under one’s feet. Psychogenic dizziness: treatment methods
Treatment of psychogenic dizziness is a rather difficult task, the successful resolution of which requires a careful study of the patient’s medical history and numerous clinical studies to exclude other types of disorder. However, the overriding importance for overcoming this condition is the discovery of the true cause that gave rise to the attacks of dizziness. At the initial stage of treatment, it is advisable to carry out drug therapy aimed at reducing the intensity of attacks, reducing the number of pathological episodes, and reducing the severity of symptoms. If the cause of psychogenic dizziness is the patient’s anxiety-phobic disorder and panic attacks, the basis of treatment is benzodiazepine tranquilizers. The work of these drugs is aimed at reducing feelings of anxiety, stopping attacks of intense fear, muscle relaxation and achieving calm. For depressive conditions accompanied by anxiety, it is recommended to carry out a long course of treatment with antidepressants from the group of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. They allow you to break the painful chain of reactions that have formed as a result of a person’s increased anxiety, anticipation of misfortune, mental exhaustion and a pessimistic outlook on life. However, psychotherapeutic work has a dominant role in the treatment of psychogenic dizziness. Conducting a course of psychotherapy not only allows you to identify the true cause of the anomaly and take measures to eliminate it. The psychotherapist explains to the patient the features of his condition and gives rise to the idea that there is no real threat to life during attacks of psychogenic dizziness. Understanding that a symptom that occurs occasionally is not a consequence of deadly pathologies and does not threaten premature death, allows you to more calmly perceive the emerging phenomenon and give a more objective assessment of your condition. Eliminating false assumptions gives a person confidence in the success of treatment and motivates him to work to change his own inner world. During psychotherapy sessions, a person learns ways to relieve nervous tension, muscle relaxation and, most importantly, learns how to respond to stress factors in order to avoid the subsequent development of psychotic reactions. In the process of psychotherapeutic treatment, a person gradually changes his opinion about the psychotraumatic factor. The doctor helps eliminate destructive elements from the mind that reward the patient with unhealthy reactions to stress. The elimination of useless and dysfunctional ideas from a person’s thinking, the acquisition of new constructive and creative thoughts provide a person with a “vaccination” against the adverse effects of stressors. At the end of the sessions, many patients understand that the habit they have formed of reacting to troubles is a destructive attitude, and they consciously make a choice in favor of a functional way of thinking. In difficult situations, when, during the focused work of the doctor and the patient, it is still not possible to discover the original source of evil, it makes sense to seek help from hypnosis techniques. When using hypnosis, the doctor works with the subconscious sphere of a person - a storehouse and keeper of information about the entire life history of a person. Such information, especially if it was perceived as a global catastrophe, is very often expelled from the conscious sphere of the psyche into the subconscious. That is why, in order to extract the required data from the depths of the psyche, it is necessary to achieve a short-term disabling of the censorship of consciousness. Immersion in a hypnotic trance provides unhindered access to the depths of the psyche, which makes it possible to find out the cause of dizziness and work to change the subject’s experiences from negative sensations to neutral and positive feelings. All people who have at least once experienced an attack of psychogenic dizziness should remember the truism: adherence to a work and rest schedule, proper leisure, and gaining the experience of positive emotions is the key to the absence of any neurotic and psychotic disorders. A person who lives in harmony with himself and the world around him, perceives life in a real light, without creating illusions or deceiving himself, knows how to enjoy small joys, and is insured against phobias and depression. Therefore, in order to get rid of psychogenic dizziness forever and prevent the development of psychotic reactions, it is necessary to fill your living space with positivity, treat numerous problems with philosophical wisdom, love, respect and take care of yourself, setting aside time to receive positive emotions.