This article discusses the fact that the phenomenon of panic, classified as a disorder in psychiatry, has been increasingly understood in light of its biological dimension. It questions, therefore, the reductionism and the claim to universality of this approach, in view of the pragmatism of the language. In order to do this, it provides a historical-conceptual description of the phenomenon of panic, emphasizing that, from its different narratives, ""panic disorder"" has not always existed, but its meaning is constructed from a particular sociocultural context. This critical contribution broadens views related to the processes of medicalization of everyday behaviors, such as the phenomenon of panic, previously experienced as life situations to which one should respond with temperance and not with medication.