Panic disorder is one of the anxiety disorders, characterized by sudden and unexpected attacks of panic. Usually occurs with agoraphobia. Typical signs of a panic attack include: palpitations, sweating, trembling, breathlessness, feeling of suffocation, pain or discomfort in the chest, nausea , dizziness or light-headedness.Fear of losing control, fear going mad, fear of death, tingling in the body, overwhelming heat or cold, feeling that the environment has changed, feeling as if the person has been changed or is separated from oneself. A panic attack usually lasts a few minutes. It can also occur during sleep, so the person wakes up in terrible fear. When attacks occur in certain situations (eg. Ride the bus, elevator, stay in a larger group of people), it may happen that a person begins to avoid such situations, which leads to limited functioning and consequently lead to isolation. Fear of possible new attacks have been increased, there have been changes in the normal schedule and increasingly severed daily activities. Before the diagnosis of panic disorder, due to very unpleasant and many physical symptoms, such people usually undergo extensive and long-term physical treatment, and there are frequent visits to the emergency department related to the feeling of fear that is associated with such disorders. Panic disorder typically develops at an earlier age and is more common in women. The cause of the attack can be a specific event, a specific situation, activity (in the case of phobias), but attacks can occur quite unexpectedly, without a clear cause. As possible causes are important different life events (loss of a close person, divorce, job loss, etc..). According to cognitive-behavioral theories of anxiety, panic is a response to external stimuli, which are learned from closest people (usually a parent). According to psychodynamic theory, panic attack is unsuccessful defense against impulses that stimulate anxiety (in the background there is a need for separation and independence) or anxiety is the result of unconscious mental conflict between repressed desires that are usually transformed into some physical symptoms. Treatment of this disorder is individual and combined drug therapy with psychotherapy. The duration of treatment is different (a few weeks, and sometimes more than a year). Antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are the first choice in the treatment of panic disorder. anxiolytics and tricyclic antidepressants are also used. Sometimes just an explanation of the reasons for the occurrence of symptoms leads to improvements. Commonly prescribed is the combination of an antidepressant and / or anxiolytic compounds from the group of benzodiazepines. Psychotherapy can help change the way of thinking that leads to the emergence of panic attacks or disorder. It's important to start treatment of this disorder in order to prevent further complications that impaire functioning of people and significantly affect quality of life.