We’re all on life’s journey. Sometimes we just need a hand.
What is a Panic Attack
Essentially, a panic attack is a false alarm. Many people experience some mild sensations when they feel anxious about something, but a panic attack is much more intense than usual.
A panic attack is usually described as a sudden, escalating surge of extreme fear accompanied by strong body feelings and catastrophic thoughts.
Panic attacks feel terrifying, but they are not dangerous. People who worry about their panic and who take steps to try to prevent the possibility of having more are said to suffer from panic disorder.
It is thought that between 1 and 3 people out of every 100 will experience panic disorder every year and many more than that will have a panic attack at least once.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBH) combined with Hypnotherapy is an extremely effective treatment for panic disorder: about 80% of people with panic disorder who complete a course of CBT are panic-free at the end of treatment.
Panic Attack Symptoms
Many people experience some mild sensations when they feel anxious about something, but a panic attack is much more intense than usual.
It includes 4 or more of these symptoms and peaks within about 10 minutes. As you can see from the diagram, many of the symptoms are similar to what you might experience if you were in a truly dangerous situation.
Many people change their behaviour to try to prevent panic attacks. Some people are affected so much that they try to avoid any place where it might be difficult to get help or to escape from.
If your symptoms are very severe or if a doctor has not checked your symptoms, it is important to have an assessment conducted by a qualified health professional. It is important to ensure that these symptoms are the result of anxiety and not caused by something else.
How is panic disorder maintained?
Once panic disorder develops, several factors contribute to it’s maintenance
Anxiety Sensitivity
The more a person learns that anxiety symptoms may signal an oncoming panic attack, the more focused they become on monitoring internal changes. When people believe that these symptoms mean physical or mental danger, it is understandable that they start scanning for signs of threat! It is the belief that those symptoms are dangerous that contribute to the ongoing distress associated with panic and which might even make panic attacks more likely.
Avoidance
Many people who have become distressed about the possibility of having panic attacks often avoid situations where panic attacks may occur or activities that may trigger symptoms associated with panic. While avoidance of some situations may reduce anxious feelings in the short term, it also reduces opportunities to prove to yourself that anxiety symptoms are not dangerous. In other words, avoidance prevents people from disconfirming their fears. The more we don’t do something, the more we tell ourselves we can’t do something.
Safety Behaviours
Even if you don’t fully avoid the situations where you think panic attacks may happen, you may go into these situations and behave in ways to minimise those anxiety symptoms. You might sit in the chair closest to the door to make a quick escape if necessary. Perhaps you do some breathing exercises to reduce your anxiety in the situation. In this case, although you’re not avoiding the situation, you are avoiding the anxiety symptoms. However, in using this subtle avoidance, these safety behaviours, you never lose the fear of your panic attacks. This means that you continue to worry about them, focusing attention on them.
Panic Disorder Treatment
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a first-line, empirically supported intervention for anxiety disorders. CBT therapists work a bit like firefighters: while the fire is burning, they’re not so interested in what caused it but are more focused on what is keeping it going and what they can do to put it out. This is because if they can work out what keeps a problem going, they can treat the problem by interrupting this maintaining cycle.
Clinical Hypnotherapy combined with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy has been shown to enhance the results in the treatment of anxiety by 70%. Treatment involves targeting the thoughts and cognitions that fuel the maintenance of panic disorder and addressing the behavioural aspect, such as avoidance and the use of safety behaviours.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss further how I may be able to support you on your journey.