If you have suffered a panic attack before you will have felt a sudden and overwhelming feeling of fear that causes agitation. In a panic situation, anxiety dominates and often replaces our normal thinking process so that we do not seem to be able to think rationally. Instead we are powered by extreme fight-or-flight responses that lead to actions or decisions that we would not make if we were able to 'think straight'.
The word panic has many meanings in general language. Panic is something that can happen to an individual (as in the case of panic attacks) or to a group of people.
The fear that leads to panic can have many causes. It may be physical fear, when we are in a situation of real physical danger such as being caught in a war or riot. It is this kind of situation that the fight-or-flight response was designed to handle, so panic may be the appropriate response in a case like that.
However, the term panic also applies in many other situations of extreme stress. One example is a panic run on a bank. Here, a group of investors suddenly becomes extremely afraid that their investment is not safe. They rush to withdraw their money from the bank. Since banks loan out most of their money, they do not hold enough cash to handle the situation of many investors all withdrawing their money at the same time. The result is that even if the bank was solid, it can crash simply as an effect of the panic.
As well as being dangerous to the security of investments, group panic can be physically dangerous. When there are many people crowded into a small space, panic can lead to injury and death. For example, when a fire alarm goes off in a crowded environment, people could be crushed and killed in the stampede for the doors, especially if there are not enough exits to handle the number of people in the building. This can happen even if there is not a fire. Consider again our definition of panic. It is the fear that causes panic. It can happen even if the danger is not real.
However, the danger of panic in an emergency can be reduced by good design of a space as well as by increasing the number of exits. A room that is divided by partitions or even pillars placed in front of the exit will be much safer, because the crowd is split up at a point where injury is most likely to occur.
Panic is not limited to human beings. It is a response that we share with many other mammals. Primitive people used this knowledge for successful hunting of herd animals such as cattle. They would round up a herd and deliberately cause a stampede by frightening the animals. Some would be injured and then they were easily caught. In extreme cases, animals could be incited by panic to jump off cliffs which would injure or kill them.
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