She's wrong. She's probably thinking of adolescent rebellion, which is a psychological adaptation to promote independence in a newly adult person. Panic Attacks are neuro-chemical. They usually manifest around adolescence, but they're not because of it. Combination of circumstance and genetics, like height.
You're not wrong to be scared of it. Some of it's pretty primitive. The meds are better in my time.
There's two ways to treat it with medication. There's treating the physical symptoms, and those are usually done with beta blockers, they block your body's cells from receiving the panic signals sent out by your brain. So you'll mentally still be freaked out, but you'll be able to breathe, think, etc.
Otherwise, it's looking at medications that mostly alter either the neurotransmitters or neuromediators. There's a really wide range of them.
Most of them have side-effects, or can. But I figured I'd let you know; just do an internet search for 'anxioloytics', grab some papers, and get reading. I have meds for my migraines but don't take them unless it gets really bad, you might be able to do something similar.