Nick Jonas admits getting an anxiety attack on the Golden Globes red carpet: ‘It hit me like a gut punch’

He added that the symptoms can be felt physically, emotionally, and behaviourally. “Physical symptoms include experiencing rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Emotionally, people with social anxiety are likely to feel extreme self-consciousness, dread, or panic in social settings. Behaviourally, such people may avoid social situations altogether or endure them with extreme discomfort,” he explained.

Dr Namita Ruparel, Assistant Professor at Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, added that an anxiety attack usually involves a fear of some specific occurrence or problem that could happen.

“A chain of unpleasant thoughts accompanied by worry, tension, nervousness, and intrusive thoughts about the future, and the expectation that something unpleasant may occur, is termed anxiety,” she said, adding that it can cause changes in the body, like heart rate, blood pressure, and insulin levels, to name a few.

Nick Jonas admits to getting the attack on X. (Source: X/@velvettsunshine)

According to her, the psychological backdrop of an anxiety attack is the uncertainty of the future, prolonged with an intention to diffuse the threat. “Anxiety causes restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension and irritability, while panic attacks cause shaking or trembling, chest pain, flashes of feeling hot or cold and a sense of detachment from the self, the world, and loss of control,” said Dr Ruparel.

Is it the same as a panic attack?

While the physical symptoms experienced in panic attacks and social anxiety attacks are similar, there is a discrete distinction between the two. “Panic attacks are sudden, while anxiety attacks are gradually built over time,” Dr Ruparel told IndianExpress.com.

She explained that panic is a feeling of fear that feels uncontrollable and keeps one from processing their environment clearly. It is also accompanied by physical and psychological symptoms. In such a situation, a sudden rise of fear takes over an individual without any obvious reason. “The onset of panic attack is sudden, occurs without a warning, there is seldom no way to stop it, and the reason for panic may not be related to reality; it usually arises from perceived threat,” explained the expert, adding that when suffering from a panic attack, you may experience sense of impending danger, pounding heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking, chills, nausea, abdominal pain, tightness in your throat, among other things.

Finally, Dr Ruparel added that, “In either of the cases, awareness of the occurrence of these attacks is recommended to be followed by a formal diagnosis. Meditation, relaxation, and breathing techniques may help in coping with panic attacks or anxiety attacks”.

DISCLAIMER: This article is based on information from the public domain and/or the experts we spoke to.