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Anxiety Disorders

Rapid shallow breathing causes hyperventilation and this happens when more carbon dioxide is breathed out than the body is able to manufacture.

When you breath shallowly and rapidly you lose too much carbon dioxide and your blood becomes too alkaline, which causes havoc within your system and your body gets a huge hit of adrenaline to try and right this which adds a further burden.

Then in a rapid down spiral these physical reactions cause you to become more anxious, which then makes you breathe even quicker, causing the symptoms to worsen. And there we have it, a classic anxiety and panic spiral, which is very difficult to get out of and afterwards the exhaustion and feelings of being a limp rag combine with utter devastation and defeat and lead to ever increasing despair and phobias.

You can find out more by reading Anxiety and Panic Attacks (PDF 50Kb).