Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
Panic attack victims show the following symptoms: they often become easily frightened or feel uneasy in situations where people normally would not be afraid; they suffer from shortness of breath, dizziness or lightheadedness; they experience chest pains, a quick heartbeat and a tingling (刺痛) in the hands; they have a choking feeling, faintness, sudden fits of trembling, a feeling that persons and things are not real; and most of all, a fear of dying or going crazy. A person seized by a panic attack may show all or as few as four of these symptoms.
There has been a lot of inference as to the causes of panic attack. Both laymen and experts alike claim that psychological strain could be a logical cause, and it seems that there is some grain of truth in this because the fast pace of life and people’s confused schedules subject them to a lot of pressure, sufficient to provoke panic attacks. However, this assumption has yet to be substantiated by scientific findings. Studies show that more women than men experience panic attacks, most likely because women have greater responsibility to the family in matters of discharging household duties as well as supervising the children; let alone the pressure of work on working mothers. Studies also show that people who take large quantities of alcohol, and those who take marijuana () or other related drugs, and those who drink beverages containing large amounts of caffeine have more inclinations to panic attacks.
It is generally accepted that a panic attack does not directly ener a person’s life. All the same, it can unnecessarily disrupt a person’s life by him or her so afraid that he or she will have a panic attack in a public place that he or she may refuse to leave home and may ually become isolated from the rest of society. Dr. Crocker’s advice to a person who thinks he is suffering from panic attacks is to consult a doctor for a medical check-up to rule out the possibility of physical illness first. Once it has been confirmed that he or she is, in fact, suffering from panic attacks, the victim should seek psychological and medical help.
Passage TwoQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.We can safely conclude that a panic attack ______.