Hope for the Muslim Suffering from Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Hope for the Muslim

Suffering from

Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Abby Carlson

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information about the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. This book is not intended as a substitute for consultation or treatment with a qualified mental health professional. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Please discuss this with your doctor and only after your doctor's approval you should try the advice given in this book.

Copyright © 2022

Heaven on Earth Publications

All Rights Reserved

In the Name of Allaah,

The Most Merciful,

The Bestower of Mercy

Chapter 1. Panic - a life-changing experience

I can’t pray in a Mosque with many people without an increase in my heart rate.

Whenever on YouTube I see a massive crowd during Hajj, I think about how I am going to do this essential pillar of Islam.

I would give anything if someone promised me twenty-four hours of health and peace in return.

I've had these symptoms for nearly fifty-nine years. Life is very painful for me.

When I see a man limping past my house on crutches I envy him because I feel like I'm much worse off than him.

What are these Muslims talking about?

Why are they so desperate?

What can be so bad that they envy a man who walks on crutches for his health?

The answer is: They are suffering from anxiety and panic attacks.

We all know what fear is. We become afraid when we have to take an exam or give an important speech, when we make it to the finals in sports, or if we have to go to the dentist. There is a reason for such normal anxiety. But when fear becomes overpowering and overtakes a person for apparently no real reason, then that is something completely different.

Daily life, work, and interpersonal relationships are increasingly affected by these uncomfortable feelings of panic and anxiety that are difficult to control.

Suffering on earth

If those affected with such unreasonable anxiety no longer know how to shake off these agonizing feelings, then that can feel to them like hell on earth, though nothing on earth can be compared to the real Hell which Allah has created for the disbelievers.

People who suffer from anxiety often say that it is impossible to explain to others what they are going through. It's like trying to talk about color to people who cannot see. The frustrating part is that these sufferers of excessive anxiety had once led a completely normal life. And then one day they had a panic attack. It fell on them like lightning from the blue, and nothing has been the same since. Since then, their everyday life has been determined by the fear of fear and they doubt that they will ever be able to lead a normal life again.

One day Salma was standing at the checkout of a supermarket wearing her Hijab and was about to pay the bill. Suddenly her heart began to race and her mouth went completely dry. She could not even recite her Adhkar (remembrance of Allaah). She continued saying the remembrance in her mind. Her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't get her money out of her wallet. She left all the things and fled home. Since then, fear has overwhelmed her every time she went out of the house alone even when she went to the Mosque. She always had to be accompanied by a member of her family. Even today, years after the first attack, she is afraid of going out of the house alone, and she always makes sure that she is never alone in her home.

Helwa worked as a tour guide for women-only groups. She loved her job, but after suffering a panic attack once while traveling she stopped working altogether. She was unemployed for a long time and afterward was only able to take up a relatively undemanding job that did not require her to travel.

Mogahed dearly wanted to be a mother as this is the reason that Muslims marry, but since she suffered from panic attacks, she put off the fulfillment of this wish for so long until it was too late. I thought I'd never be able to care for a baby.

Hardly any two people experience a panic attack in exactly the same way. Some have unbearable palpitations (uncomfortable awareness of the beating of the heart), others feel dizzy or numb, and still, others get breathless or feel choked. But they all have one thing in common: their life is enormously affected by panic disorders. One fateful day, they had a panic attack. It changed their lives and directed them in a direction that they had not chosen and that they had not wanted. It turned their focus inward instead of outward. It strained their relationships. It became a source of daily fear and worry.

What is a Panic Attack?

We have known panic attacks from literature for centuries.

In 1980 the American Psychiatric Association included the term panic attacks in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (a reference book for psychotherapists), which is consulted by professionals in diagnosing emotional disorders. The definition given in this reference work is now generally accepted.

The symptoms that are most common during a panic attack are:

- Shortness of breath or breathlessness

- Drowsiness, instability, or weakness

- Palpitations or rapid heartbeat

- Severe tremors

- Sweats

- Choking

- Nausea or nervous stomach

- Loss of reality, (depersonalization)

- Numbness or tingling of the limbs

- Hot flashes

- Chest pain or tightness

- Scared to death

- Fear of going crazy or doing something wild!

If most of these symptoms (no matter which) appear at the same time, suddenly and unexpectedly, and if they are clearly and painfully noticeable for a period of about ten minutes, then it is likely to be a panic attack. Also, these symptoms should not be triggered by an obviously life-threatening situation since in such a situation these symptoms are a normal response of the body to the stressful situation.

Many patients experience more than four symptoms; the sensations that accompany a panic attack can also differ slightly from time to time. A certain symptom that a patient suffers from may hardly matter to another. If only one or two of these symptoms are present, it is called a minor panic attack. Even if a person is faced with one or two of these symptoms frequently and unexpectedly, it can be very worrying and uncomfortable for him or her, and significantly reduce his or her quality of life.

Can I be a normal person if I have panic attacks?

Even if the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual was very useful in that it made a broader professional audience aware of the fact that panic attacks exist, it was of little help in other respects. The reference work coined the expression panic illnesses for patients who regularly suffer or fear panic attacks and, so to speak, constantly live with the fear of fear. It may be useful to give the thing a medical-sounding name, but unfortunately, this gives the impression that the person concerned is suffering from an illness in the true, medical sense. However, this is not the case.

Panic attacks can be fully explained by normal