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Comment by CountDrewku | Hacker News Reader

Isn't this just a panic attack?

Reading the article, no it isn't. Daniel Goleman, who also invented the term "Emotional intelligence", states you can have positive amygdala hijacks: let's say you're uproariously laughing out of control, that'd be a hijack that isn't panic related.

On the negative valenced side, it's not just a panic attack. It's more related to fight-or-flight than anxiety, though I see cases where amygdala hijack is overlapping with a panic attack.

I've never seen fight of flight used with anything but anxiety since it's a fear response. Out of control laughter being included in that makes no sense.

Explain how out of control laughter elicits a fight reflex or a run reflex? Fight or flight is explicitly a survival mechanism.

Maybe a full on panic attack since that generally refers to something that isn't actually dangerous isn't the right word but anxiety/fear certainly is. PA's ARE fight/flight by the way.

No. As an example, if you've ever experienced an overwhelming urge to downvote a comment on HN despite the fact that it conforms to the site guidelines, but it makes you feel intellectually threatened, then you’ve experienced this phenomenon.

It's still general anxiety, which is just the lesser form of what eventually creates a panic attack and clearly not what he's referring to with a term like "amygdala hijack".

I see no reason to get pedantic with it and create and entirely new sensationalist term to describe what is essentially a panic response.

Also, in the example you've given most people have the ability actually think through the process logically and make a decision before they decide on something like voting.

In a true "amygdala hijack" (like a panic attack) you don't get the chance to decide you just immediately respond with fight/flight. If you had the ability to think it through it would be a shit survival mechanism.

Not only is this a valid point in and of itself, but it bring up a fascinating (IMO) aspect of the human mind: just how abstract the "stimuli" can be that we respond to, eh? It's arguably a neurological "mis-wire" that it's even possible to be intellectually threatened, eh? Snakes, yes, but furious green ideas[1]?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_fu...

I’m gonna have to call this a bad example. I’m pretty sure the neocortex is heavily involved when you’re reading comments on Hacker News.

It's a terrible example. Most here don't seem to understand what actual fight/flight is and what this person has coined "amygdala hijacking". It wouldn't work as a survival mechanism at all if they had the ability to think their decision through.

In a true fight/flight scenario your amygdala responds in such a quick way that you really don't have time to override it. This IS a panic attack, except that panic attacks are usually used in reference to something that's not a real imminent danger. Regardless, the body response is the same with adrenaline, heightened sense etc..

No: Is jumping up and away feom the table because you see a spider on it a panic attack?

It's the same initial response yes. They're both anxiety/fear responses. Normally you realize the spider doesn't actually cause you an danger so it doesn't evolve into full fight/flight or panic. The spider respone may be very short-lived but it is still flight and your body/amygdala responded so fast you didn't have the chance to think about jumping away and worked liked the survival mechanism it is (if you smash it then fight..)

More generally just calling it anxiety would be fine.

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