Question

In a patient with no significant previous history, no history of any drug intake, and a normal ECG, what is the likely cause of palpitations, sweating, and a feeling of impending doom, with each episode lasting about 10 minutes?

• A. Hysteria
• B. Panic attack
• C. Agoraphobia
• D. Generalised anxiety disorder

Hint:

A discrete, minutes-long episode of palpitations, sweating, and doom, with a normal heart workup, is the hallmark of a panic attack.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The question wants you to separate four anxiety related labels using the timing and shape of the episode described.

Step 2: Key Approach:
Compare each option on two points: does it fit a short, sharp, self limited episode, and does the picture given, palpitations, sweating, and dread, match its usual symptom set.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
A normal ECG and no drug history already remove a heart rhythm problem or a stimulant reaction as the cause, leaving a primary anxiety process as the most likely explanation.
Generalised anxiety disorder runs as a long, grinding worry most days for months, so a single 10 minute burst does not fit its pattern.
Agoraphobia is defined by fear of certain places or situations, not by the physical symptom burst itself, and it usually comes after a person has already had panic attacks, so it cannot be the direct answer here.
Hysteria classically presents with a neurological style symptom, like a paralysed arm or sudden loss of vision, that has no organic cause, which is a different symptom pattern altogether from palpitations and sweating.
A panic attack is built exactly for this description: it peaks fast, lasts minutes, and carries palpitations, sweating, and a feeling of impending doom as core features, with no need for any structural heart disease or drug trigger.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Matching the short duration and the classic symptom triad to a discrete anxiety episode gives panic attack as the diagnosis.