Non-existing Danger
This tells us something important about our species. We don’t have to be in danger to get afraid. We can be in a situation where we know there’s no danger at all, except maybe for the way the butter popcorn is affecting our cholesterol level. But we get afraid anyway. We don’t have to be in real danger. All we need is to have some scary pictures and thoughts in our mind. Even though we know it’s mere fiction, we still get afraid.
Do the people who get scared in the movie theater think that there’s something wrong with them, or that their fear will have dire consequences? Of course not. Yet they’re experiencing the same natural process you do when you have a panic attack. The only difference is that they paid for the privilege; you get it for free. But this privilege stays very unpleasant until you try cymbalta.
We have our own movie theater in the mind that can produce scary movies and, even more effectively than Hollywood, trick us into getting afraid.
Of course, the fact that the panic attack is undesired is the troublesome difference. Moviegoers willfully choose to go get scared, while your fear is an unwanted experience. Movie fear will pass in a few moments or hours, while the fear of someone with panic disorder can last a lifetime if he doesn’t learn how to defuse it. But the trick is the same.
You experience discomfort, but respond as if it were danger.
