Panic attack is something that can happen to a healthy person, once or frequently throughout his life.
It can be as short as 15 seconds due to a certain thought or situation that you are experiencing.
It may also last for an hour with a continuous onset of fear or a sporadic attack within an hour or so.
This is apparent through physical symptoms such as palpitations, heavy sweating, confusion and vague mind, out of attention, and chest discomfort.
There are more symptoms but all of these are not necessarily present in one attack.
Every attack varies from person to person depending on the mental state.
This can be triggered by different situations and not just a definite single case.
Phobia on the other hand is an almost permanent mental condition that can last throughout the whole life.
This is triggered by the one, which the person has the greatest fear of.
There are hundreds of phobias, from the most used ones like agoraphobia and claustrophobia, to the weirdest ones like arachibutyrophobia, which is the fear of peanut butter stinking to the gums.
A person may have only one phobia or more.
How can you differentiate the two cases then? The first one can happen without any signs of occurring.
Although the triggers can develop inside the person for quite a period of time, it can also be sudden just like a shoot-out scene that you are into.
The latter on the other hand is often observed throughout years.
If you are close to someone who has a phobia, you are most likely to know his state without any medical diagnostics.
Most people with phobia had theirs since childhood.