If you go to a hospital emergency room for anxiety, you’ll most likely receive a fast-acting sedative from the benzodiazepine family, typically lorazepam (Ativan). The specific medication and approach depend on how severe your symptoms are, but the overall goal is the same: calm you down quickly, rule out any dangerous medical conditions, and connect you with follow-up care before you leave.
What Happens When You Arrive
The first thing staff will do is assess how urgent your situation is. Nurses use a triage system that ranks patients on a scale, often from one to five, based on symptom severity and safety concerns. Someone who is agitated, at risk of harming themselves, or unable to communicate clearly gets seen faster. If you arrive with a panic attack but are otherwise stable, you may wait longer, but you will be evaluated.
A big part of that evaluation is making sure your symptoms aren’t caused by something else. Panic attacks and heart attacks share several symptoms: chest pain, shortness of breath, racing heart, dizziness. To rule out a cardiac event, the ER team will likely run an electrocardiogram (EKG) to check your heart rhythm, draw blood to look for markers of heart damage, and possibly order an echocardiogram to check your heart’s structure. These tests are routine and typically come back quickly. Once the results confirm your heart is fine, the focus shifts to treating the anxiety itself.
Medications You’re Likely to Receive
Benzodiazepines are the standard treatment for acute anxiety and panic attacks in the emergency room. These drugs work by slowing down activity in the nervous system, producing a calming effect within minutes. The three most commonly used are lorazepam, alprazolam (Xanax), and clonazepam (Klonopin).
Lorazepam is the most popular choice in hospital settings because it can be given as a pill, an injection into muscle, or directly into a vein through an IV. When given intravenously, it starts working in one to three minutes. An intramuscular injection takes about 15 to 30 minutes to kick in. The typical dose is 1 to 2 milligrams, which can be repeated if needed. If you’re able to take a pill and your symptoms aren’t extreme, you might get alprazolam or clonazepam by mouth instead. These work a bit more slowly but are equally effective for most panic episodes.
You’ll probably start feeling noticeably calmer within a few minutes of an IV dose or within 15 to 30 minutes of a pill. The sedation can make you drowsy, slow your reflexes, and affect your coordination, so you should plan on having someone else drive you home.
When Stronger Medications Are Used
If your anxiety is accompanied by severe agitation, psychosis, or if you can’t cooperate with taking oral medication, the treatment approach changes. In these situations, doctors may use a different class of drugs: antipsychotics. These are reserved for more intense presentations, not standard panic attacks.
The preferred options are newer antipsychotics like olanzapine or ziprasidone, which come in both injectable and oral forms and tend to cause fewer side effects than older alternatives. Haloperidol, an older antipsychotic, is still sometimes used, particularly when agitation is related to alcohol intoxication, but it’s generally not the first choice. These medications address extreme agitation more effectively than sedatives alone, especially when an underlying psychiatric condition like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia is involved.
Non-Medication Support
Medication isn’t the only thing you’ll receive. While you’re being treated, nurses or other staff may guide you through basic calming techniques: slow breathing, grounding exercises (focusing on physical sensations to interrupt anxious thoughts), or simply talking you through what’s happening so you feel less out of control. The environment itself, being monitored, knowing you’re safe, having someone check your vitals, can help reduce panic on its own.
In some hospitals, a social worker or crisis counselor may also check in with you. Their role is to screen for underlying issues like depression or ongoing anxiety disorders and to help coordinate next steps. They’re often the person who arranges referrals or provides resource lists before you’re discharged.
What Happens Before You Leave
Most people who come to the ER for anxiety are discharged the same day. Inpatient psychiatric admission is reserved for people who need 24-hour supervision, typically because they can’t keep themselves safe, they’ve failed outpatient treatment, or they’re unable to care for themselves due to the severity of their mental health condition. A straightforward panic attack, even a severe one, almost never leads to a hospital stay.
Before discharge, you’ll receive instructions for follow-up care. This usually includes a recommendation to see your primary care doctor within a few days and a referral to a therapist, ideally one who practices cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which has strong evidence for treating anxiety and panic disorders. Some hospitals will provide a short “bridge” prescription for a benzodiazepine to cover you for a few days until you can see an outpatient provider, though this varies by hospital and by doctor. Others will recommend over-the-counter options or simply urge you to establish ongoing care as soon as possible.
How Common ER Visits for Anxiety Are
You’re far from alone if you’ve ended up in an emergency room for anxiety. CDC data from early 2026 shows that roughly 2,448 out of every 100,000 emergency visits are related to anxiety, making it one of the most common mental health reasons people seek emergency care. Many of those visits happen because a panic attack feels so physically intense that people genuinely believe something is wrong with their heart or lungs. That fear is understandable, and ruling out a medical emergency is exactly what the ER is designed to do.
The ER is effective at stopping an acute anxiety episode, but it’s not designed to treat anxiety long-term. The medications given in the hospital are meant for immediate relief, not ongoing management. Benzodiazepines carry a risk of dependence with regular use, which is why follow-up with an outpatient provider matters. A therapist, a psychiatrist, or even your regular doctor can help you build a longer-term plan that might include therapy, a daily medication like an SSRI, or both.