Panic attacks can be reliably produced in normal people with certain drugs, leading to the implication of biological causes. Anxious people tend to be more pro

Panic attacks can be reliably produced in normal people with certain drugs, leading to the implication of biological causes. Anxious people tend to be more prone to panic attacks. A panic attack usually begins with a benign biological malfunction (misfiring of adrenal gland, slight breathing irregularity set off by allergies) that would otherwise be mild and possibly ignored, but if it launches a feedback loop of negative and anxious thoughts, it can become panic. So the cause is, in part, biological. That doesn't mean that cognitive-behavior therapy in addition to drugs isn't usually a good idea.