Generalised anxiety disorders:

There's another group of people who experience panic attacks apparently spontaneously. This is often associated with general anxiety - ongoing, grumbling symptoms coming to a peak. But panic attacks also occur out of the blue. When this happens, the fear of it reoccurring in the same situation can easily develop, leading to a phobia or general anxiety that becomes self-feeding.

How many people are affected?

Some phobias are more common than others. Up to ten per cent of people a year experience a phobia of flying, dentists or of blood. These are referred to as the simple phobias.

Social phobia is less common, affecting about 25 people in 1,000 each year. Agoraphobia occurs in about 30 people in every 1,000 a year, and it's roughly twice as frequent among women. Panic disorder affects between ten and 30 people per 1,000 in a year - again, it's roughly twice as frequent among women.

 What can I do to help myself?

The first step is to break the vicious cycle that builds up. Learning relaxation techniques is a good way to do this. Your body instinctively becomes tense - it's not a response that we learn - and relaxation also has to be consciously learned.

There are two types of relaxation exercise - 'guided fantasy' and 'muscle tension'. Relaxation is not an immediate fix for the problem and, like all skills, is only acquired through practice, but again, you will be shown how to do this.