Understanding Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder
By Caleb Ighalo, PMHNP-BC · Meet Your Provider · Last reviewed August 10, 2026
At a glance: Panic disorder rarely shows up alone — it's commonly linked to other conditions, including physical ones — which is exactly why an accurate evaluation matters more than self-diagnosis. Both medication and therapy have well-established roles in treatment.
It's Often Connected to More Than Anxiety
Panic disorder frequently overlaps with other mental and physical health conditions: depression, other anxiety disorders, PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, and even physical conditions like cardiovascular disease, respiratory disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, or thyroid problems. This is a big part of why a real evaluation matters — some of what feels like "just panic" can have a physical health component worth ruling out, and some physical symptoms during a panic attack (racing heart, shortness of breath, chest tightness) can also mimic or overlap with other conditions.
What Medication Can Do
Antidepressants — including SSRIs and SNRIs — can be effective for treating panic disorder, working over time to reduce the frequency and intensity of panic episodes rather than functioning as an as-needed rescue medication.
What Therapy Can Do
Exposure therapy, a common technique within cognitive behavioral therapy, is one of the more established approaches for panic disorder. It works by gradually and safely confronting the fears and physical sensations associated with panic, rather than avoiding them — avoidance tends to reinforce panic disorder over time, even though it feels protective in the moment.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Because panic disorder so often overlaps with other conditions, treatment usually starts with a full evaluation rather than treating panic symptoms in isolation. From there, medication, therapy, or both get built into a plan based on what's actually driving the symptoms — not a generic panic-disorder protocol applied the same way to everyone.
Psychiatric Evaluations, Medication Management, and Therapy-Centered Care are available for ages 12 and up in Houston, TX. See what to expect at an evaluation or learn about Therapy-Centered Care.