Imagine you are lying down in bed and suddenly there is a sudden wave of fear! A fear that makes your breathing fast, tightens your chest, or causes a heavy feeling. It’s a feeling in which you may think that something tragic is about to happen.
It’s a deep, sinking feeling that often occurs out of nowhere and for no reason and feels impossible to ignore.
This terrifying feeling can be described as a feeling of impending doom.
Most of the individuals experience a sense of impending doom once in their lives. However, it can be a symptom of mental or medical health conditions.
Impending doom is draining as it leads to several issues like anxiety, burnout, sleeplessness, and depression.
Understanding the sense of impending doom can help in diagnosing it earlier. It can be managed with the help of an expert mental health professional, as they offer the right combination of treatments.
Understanding the Sense of Impending Doom
Everyone experiences it differently; it can be difficult to put into words. For some, impending doom is an overwhelming thought that something terrible or frightening is going to happen. For others, it can be a feeling in which they feel like they might die.
The sense of doom is basically a deep gut feeling that leads one into a state of dread. It causes mixed symptoms at once, such as worry, fear, sadness, and helplessness. These thoughts whisper in the mind with a strong belief.
However, it’s completely normal to feel a sense of impending doom that doesn’t seem connected to anything specific going on. It can usually occur while experiencing panic or anxiety disorders, as our brain and body are connected. The brain gives the body signals and leads to fight, flight, or freeze mode, which makes one passive for the upcoming threat.
It’s the time when the adrenal glands send a surge of hormones called catecholamines throughout the body, including adrenaline.
What Does “Impending Doom” Feel Like?
The feeling of impending doom is more than worry or nervousness. Individuals describe it as a disaster that is imminent. People may use various symptoms to describe this feeling.
“A thought of impending doom is a delusion. It is a strongly held belief in an outcome that is quite removed from reality.”
—ALEX DIMITRIU, MD, PSYCHIATRIST
Signs of Impending Doom
Identifying the signs that accompany a feeling of impending doom can help you better understand what’s happening in your body and mind.
- A sense of urgency
- Unable to relax or change their mind, even activities like TV or reading a book are unable to provide an escape.
- A strong feeling that one may need medical assistance right away.
- A disoriented, floaty, or faint feeling can make it seem like you’re about to pass out.
- One may experience a shaky body, sometimes smile, and sometimes excessive
- Severe terror, which sometimes leads to a panic attack.
- Emotional numbness
- Catastrophic thinking
- Some individuals feel disconnected from the real world or from themselves, as if they’re watching everything outside their bodies.
- Heart palpitations and chest pain
- Flashbacks and feeling sweaty
- Shortness of breath
- Unable to calm down
- Feeling extremely anxious, discouraged, restless, or uncertain
- Feeling that something negative or unusual is occurring
All these symptoms can arise alone or in combination, and every individual experiences them in a different way. If you feel like you are experiencing any of the symptoms, get help from a mental health professional immediately.
Psychological Causes of Impending Sense of Doom
A sense of impending doom can occur because of various mental health conditions. The psychological cause of this impending feeling of doom is as follows:
1. Anxiety
People who are experiencing anxiety may experience a feeling of impending doom. It is because the main symptoms of anxiety are excessive worrying that is hard to control. Sometimes, uneasy thoughts fixate on past mistakes. And sometimes they’re centered on what could be wrong in the future, which often manifests as impending doom.
This means individuals remain stuck in these negative, anxious thoughts, which reinforce impending doom. It severely impacts the way of thinking and makes one remain uneasy.
For example, if you have social anxiety, and you are going to a social gathering, there is already a feeling that something bad will happen over there. Or you generally sense that bad is going to happen, and that is because you are experiencing anxiety. Another example is if a person has a specific phobia, they already know that if they have to encounter it, they might faint. So this feeling of dread and fear before time can be considered as a feeling of impending doom
2. PTSD
Individuals who have witnessed a tragic incident, such as war, an earthquake, or an accident, also experience a feeling of impending doom. It is because individuals experiencing PTSD have flashbacks of the traumatic incident, which makes them remain in fear and dread most of the time. This extreme dread and fear make them think that something bad is going to happen. So, traumas can make people hypervigilant and paranoid, both common symptoms of impending doom.
Additionally, it can make them feel like something life-threatening is going to happen whenever they leave the house.
3. Excessive Stress
Individuals who are experiencing prolonged stress feel like something is going to go wrong the second they step out of their house, or the moment they take their eyes off their goal. It’s like they sense the danger; sometimes, this danger can actually come true. Moreover, high-stress environments can also bring impending doom. If an individual experiences one bad thing, they may feel like a series of things is going to happen.
For example, you step out from your house and a car bangs in. Another example is that your children will get hurt if you take your eyes off them. Another example is people who are continuously experiencing criticism and stress at their workplace. In that environment, one may feel doom and experience other negative emotions more often.
4. Panic Attacks
When a person experiences panic attacks, they may feel like they’re dying or going mad. These attacks are a full-body experience that feels like losing control of everything, including thoughts and feelings.
Some individuals even report experiencing signs similar to a heart attack. Although no one ever died because of a panic attack, it’s just a phase that passes after some time. It may lead to a feeling of impending doom as they always remain in fear and dread that this condition might happen again. So, a panic attack is about a hit feeling of impending doom.
For example, a person who has a fear of elevators has a feeling that whenever they use elevators, they might faint or die.
5. OCD or Health Anxiety
Impending doom may also occur in people who are experiencing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or a health-related phobia. People in this state may feel like they will be infected if they don’t wash their hands again and again. They double-check that the door is locked before leaving. They may always remain in fear that something bad will definitely happen. It can be related to anything. That feeling of doom is closely connected to the obsessions and compulsions associated with OCD.
Moreover, people in this state are more sensitive about their health as they remain worried all the time about their health.
What are the Medical Causes of Sense of Impending Doom?
This sense of impending doom can also occur while in serious medical health conditions. As it feels like a life-threatening condition, the individual experiencing this feels like they might die. However, in some cases, people end up being somewhat right. It is because of the medical health condition, as people who experience seizures may feel like they are going to have a seizure attack soon.
For example, a person has a serious allergy and has developed a syndrome in which they have various symptoms that usually occur after being bitten by a snake or sting of starfish. The person in this state may experience a feeling of impending doom before the actual symptoms.
So this feeling of dread makes the person believe that death is close.
Medical Conditions
There are surprisingly few direct medical studies looking at a feeling of impending doom as a symptom, given the frequency with which this symptom appears in the lists of “differential diagnoses” in medical textbooks or on hospital rounds.
Some conditions in which a sense of impending doom is listed as a symptom include:
1. Anaphylaxis
It’s a severe allergic reaction that is rapid that affects different body systems. It’s a debilitating condition that immediately requires treatment. People in this state experience symptoms like breathing problems, swelling of the throat or tongue, hives, fast heart rate, and dizziness. It leads to a sense of impending doom.
2. Blood Transfusion Reactions
Transfusions a serious condition that can cause a sudden, intense sense of impending doom. It may trigger allergic reactions and breakdown of the transfused red blood cells. People in this state experience symptoms of anxiety and impending doom before the actual symptoms. This reaction leads to immense stress signals and impending organ failure.
3. Exposure to Toxins and Poisonings
People who are exposed to toxins and poisonings. It can be the jellyfish stings, cyanide poisoning, carbon monoxide, or exposure to environmental toxins. The environmental toxins include exposure to mercury or arsenic, which also leads to a sense of impending doom, which is often the first symptom.
4. Seizure Disorders
Individuals experiencing seizures, such as epileptic aura11, and non-epileptic psychogenic symptoms can lead to this feeling. As seizures cause intense, sudden fear that occurs when there is abnormal brain activity. It leads to an impending sense of doom.
5. Intraoperative Awareness
Sometimes, people, while getting surgeries, wake up during the operation, even under anesthesia. It is because of the awareness or unintended awareness, which may lead one to a sense of doom.
6. Pheochromocytoma
It’s a state in which there are massive releases of neurotransmitters such as adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine. All these neurotransmitters suddenly cause an increase in blood pressure and lead to rapid heartbeat, sweating, and possibly a feeling of impending doom.
7. Heart Attacks
A feeling of doom may precede a heart attack as it causes extreme, sudden dread that something terrible is about to happen. It can be recognized as a symptom of a heart attack caused by the body reacting to severe distress.
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How to Diagnose this Condition?
The diagnosis can only be made by a mental health professional. They diagnose it by performing a physical evaluation. A mental health expert examines the signs and symptoms to diagnose it.
They check the blood pressure, history of medical or mental health conditions, and do some blood tests and X-rays or CT scans to check for any blood clot issues to know the exact cause. They also conduct an interview with the person to diagnose conditions like panic disorder, PTSD, or depression.
How to Cope with a Feeling of Impending Doom
People in this state remain stuck in a high-alert mode. However, it can be managed with the right combination of medication and therapies. The mental health professional recommended treatment as per the severity of the condition.
Some of the common therapies that can help include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
It is one of the most effective and is considered to be the gold standard treatment for treating various mental health conditions. It helps people by changing negative thoughts into positive ones. It helps reduce the fear and dread that are associated with this feeling.
Moreover, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): In this therapy, a mental health professional encourages one to accept their feelings. ACT makes them take their feelings as a temporary wave instead of fighting with their feelings. Some medications, along with therapy, also help, which include antidepressants, Beta-Blockers, and Anti-anxiety medications.
How Can the Inland Empire Behavioral Group Help?
If you or any of your loved ones are experiencing the feelings of impending doom or struggling with any mental health disorder. Help is within reach!
At Inland Empire Behavioral Group, we have a team of professionals who offer compassionate and personalized treatments. We offer psychiatric treatment plans for teens, adults, and older adults with mental health disorders. Whether you are dealing with panic disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, or any other mental disorder, we are here to help.
Our experts have decades of experience in treating mental health conditions. Feel free to get in touch with us.
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