Panic Free
Panic attacks can occur with just about any type of anxiety. For example, if you are socially anxious, you may have experienced a panic attack before giving a speech or at the thought of asking an attractive woman out on a date. On the other hand, if you have a phobia of spiders, then seeing or thinking about a spider may trigger a panic attack. However, panic disorder is different. Panic disorder is when you fear the bodily sensations that accompany a panic attack and having another panic attack. Often, the fear of another panic attack may cause you to start avoiding certain places such as crowded restaurants, malls and other places where you feel trapped or where you think help might not be available if you did have a panic attack.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for panic disorder. If you are committed to ending your fear of panic attacks and willing to put in the time and effort involved in recovery, the results can be remarkable. You can be free of your fear of panic attacks and live a more peaceful life.
The major components of CBT for panic disorder include:
Psychoeducation: Therapy for panic attacks begins with education and basic knowledge about anxiety, such as the “flight or fight” response, how your “anxiety system” works and how your bodily sensations of anxiety are not dangerous. I provide my clients with handouts to educate them about anxiety and panic attacks.
Breathing Retraining: During a panic attack, you may be breathing too fast or tensing your chest. This can result in a feeling of panic, light headedness and dizziness. Therapy for panic attacks will teach you how to breathe more deeply and slowly and how to establish a normal breathing rhythm.
Cognitive Restructuring: Therapy for panic attacks will help you identify and change the negative thinking habits that can lead to panic attacks. For example, in therapy for panic attacks, you will learn to stop misinterpreting your panic-related bodily sensations as catastrophic or dangerous. You’ll learn that panic-related bodily sensations may be uncomfortable but they will not result in your negative predications, like having a heart attack or fainting.
Core Beliefs Related To Anxiety: If you have been experiencing panic attacks throughout your life, therapy for panic attacks will also focus on changing the underlying fears that are maintaining your anxiety. Examples of core beliefs that might be maintaining anxiety include” “I will lose control,” “The world is a dangerous place,” “I am vulnerable.”
Exposure Therapy For Panic Attacks: This is one of the most important elements in the treatment for panic attacks. You will create a hierarchy of situations that lead to panic attacks or situations you avoid due to fear of having a panic attack. We’ll put the items in order of how much anxiety they cause you, from the least to most anxiety provoking. Then you’ll gradually expose yourself to these situations and stay in the situations long enough to experience habituation, which will allow you to feel the anxiety rise and fall with time if you don’t escape. Through this, you will learn that you can tolerate anxiety and that it rarely leads to disastrous results.
Exposure to Panic-Like Bodily Sensations: We can elicit the symptoms of a panic attack in the session. This will help you to learn that your bodily sensations are not dangerous and I can show you how you can easily make the symptoms go away.
It is possible to have a full recovery from panic disorder. Be sure to find a highly trained CBT therapist to help you.
