Understanding the Brain's 'Suffocation Alarm'

Panic disorder is a severe form of anxiety in which the affected individual feels an abrupt onset of fear, often accompanied by profound physical symptoms of discomfort. Scientists have known from studying twins that genes contribute to the risk of panic disorder, but very little is known about which specific genes are involved. Two of the most common and terrifying symptoms of this severe anxiety are a sense of shortness of breath and feelings of suffocation. One theory exists that panic disord