Well, he may not have been one of the better known personality theorists, but Hans Eysenck was one of the finest. Eysenck believed temperament, a pre-wired characteristic mode of emotional response, had everything to do with having panic attacks. Here's a snippet from an article I just published...
Neuroticism
People that fall into this dimension are generally fairly calm to very nervous. According to Eysenck, these folks are prone to what he called “neurotic” problems, issues of a mental or emotional nature that result in stress. Interestingly enough, Uncle Hans focused upon the sympathetic nervous system. Well, panic sufferers know this system well, as under the direction of our fear and emotion circuitry, the sympathetic nervous system launches our physical fight/flight response. According to Eysenck, neuroticism involves, shall we say, a “hyperactive” sympathetic nervous system.
The most noteworthy expression of neuroticism, so says Eysenck, is a panic attack. And here’s the pathological progression. One becomes mildly frightened by something, which most often causes the amygdala to sound the alarm. Well, answering the bell is the sympathetic nervous system, and the physical sensations it generates make one even more on-edge, upset, and hyper-reactive to any form of stimulation. Well, that just eggs-on the amygdala and sympathetic nervous system all the more, and now everything’s cycling very quickly out of control. And before you know it, in the midst of this viciously cycling mess comes a panic attack. Very curiously, when it’s all said and done, one is actually reacting more to one’s stimulus-overload than the original mildly frightening hiccup. Does that sound at all familiar? I’m thinking so.
Please have a look at the full article. Bill
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Your dime, your dance floor. My only requests are to watch your language and really consider where people are coming from if you're directing comments at what someone's expressed.