This is a pretty common experience in being human. But who among us avoids travel, going to hotels, or refuses to visit relatives because we might possibly stub our toes? Who gets worked up for weeks ahead of time, worried sick about stubbing our toes? We don’t. And the reason is entirely contained in how we interpret the experience. We know that it is temporary, not life threatening, and we have the utmost confidence that the pain and discomfort will pass soon and the day will proceed normally.
To those who have suffered a panic attack, it is positively frightening. Many assume that they’re having a heart attack and they worry that they’re going to die. Even after being checked out medically and reassured that their cardio-vascular system is fine, they still live in absolute fear of the next episode. They construe the experience as mortifiying, terrifying, potentially life threatening, and to be avoided at all costs. So, left untreated, people with panic disorder avoid more and more things which they believe could lead to a panic attack. In fact, the natural course of panic disorder, left untreated, is agoraphobia. That is, a person is afraid to even leave their home, worrying that to do so could cause a panic attack.
In the past, a primary treatment approach for panic disorder included relaxation training, with the hopes of getting someone to relax to the point that they would not have a panic attack at all. And, this is still a useful technique. However, more recently, it has been all about encouraging people to re-construe the experience of panic altogether. If we could think of a moment of panic as basically no different than stubbing one's toe, then it is less likely that the sufferer of panic disorder will live in dread for weeks before a given flight, a trip away from home, or any other scenario that in the past simply wore the person out in anticipation. A mantra to use over and over when approaching a dreaded situation is "it is discomfort, not danger."
There are experience logs which can be used to help people convert their panic episodes into toe-stubbing ones. Learning how to re-construe a panic experience from danger to mere discomfort is key on the road to recovery from this condition. For more assistance with panic disorder in the Chicago area, see us at www.heritageprofessional.com Outside of the Chicago area, ask someone for the name of a reputable mental health professional.
