The NHS has to say the following about panic attacks, which are an intense and heightened form of an anxiety attack and often also include somatic symptoms:
“Although panic attacks are frightening, they’re not dangerous. An attack will not cause you any physical harm, and it’s unlikely you’ll be admitted to hospital if you have one.” See NHS – Panic disorder
The WHO’s diagnostic manual ICD-10 describes anxiety disorders as follows:
F40 Phobic anxiety disorders
A group of disorders in which anxiety is evoked only, or predominantly, in certain well-defined situations that are not currently dangerous. As a result these situations are characteristically avoided or endured with dread. The patient’s concern may be focused on individual symptoms like palpitations or feeling faint and is often associated with secondary fears of dying, losing control, or going mad. Contemplating entry to the phobic situation usually generates anticipatory anxiety. Phobic anxiety and depression often coexist. Whether two diagnoses, phobic anxiety and depressive episode, are needed, or only one, is determined by the time course of the two conditions and by therapeutic considerations at the time of consultation.
F41 Other anxiety disorders
Disorders in which manifestation of anxiety is the major symptom and is not restricted to any particular environmental situation. Depressive and obsessional symptoms, and even some elements of phobic anxiety, may also be present, provided that they are clearly secondary or less severe.