Panic Attack Treatment

By Dr.Stephen Antony , MD (Psychiatry)

Panic disorder is a disabling condition that requires adequate attention and treatment.

You may be young or old, healthy or sick, rich or poor, it doesn’t matter as panic attacks do not discriminate, but when they come , they can cripple you from carrying on with your life and make you dread the next panic attack.

Sometimes panic attacks may be so severe and intense that the individual feels (s)he may die from it. But panic attacks do not kill anybody, they are caused by an excessive rush of adrenaline in the body.

Many times the person may fear panic attacks and worry about future panic attacks. The indispensable basic of panic disorder treatment is to eradicate the horror of having the next panic attack and the fright of the signs of the panic attack

Another important factor is to understand exactly what is going on in the mind and brain as the panic attack unfolds.

Panic Attack Treatment:-

There are numerous panic attack treatment but the majority or all contain psychiatric help and cognitive behavior therapy.

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) includes many techniques, such as applied relaxation, exposure in vivo, exposure through imagery, panic management, breathing retraining, and cognitive restructuring.

The theory behind cognitive therapy is that our thoughts cause troublesome feelings and behaviors, and not something outside ourselves. If a person learns to recognize thought patterns and behaviors that lead to these feelings, they may then begin to feel or act better. Not all therapists are trained in cognitive therapy so, if you decide to try this, be sure to ask the therapist about their training and experiencing before scheduling an appointment.

Showing the patient that other issues are involved too helps him/her to create changes in their response to the panic attack and from time to time in their life to lend a hand to eradicate the next panic attack.

Research studies have found that specialized cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, and combined CBTs are superior to general emotionally supportive psychotherapy in patients with panic disorder.

It was found in CBT studies, that an average of 73 percent of treated patients were panic-free at three to four months, compared with 27 percent of control patients, and 46 percent of treated patients remained panic-free at two years.

Depending on the degree of anxiety some support methods might prove to be more effective than others.

Even though the panic anxiety, fear , social discomfort, embarrassment are uncomfortable to deal with in the beginning, they will not kill you.

The effective path to take her is to help the body adapt to the panic response and train the body to perceive the panic situation as normal.

You may first do this in small steps and them go on to bigger challenges. You will notice that the symptoms reduce in their severity with repeated exposure and the body adapts to the stimulus.

Panic attacks are very unpleasant, to say the least. You cannot turn a blind eye to your physical symptoms, fearful thoughts, or uncomfortable experiences, but you don’t want to encourage this false alarm being triggered in your body again and again and cause you needless anxiety.

Below is an exercise to help you. Before you practice these exercises, its advised that you get a thorough health check up done by your doctor so you can be doubly sure that there is nothing wrong with your body and thus also rule out any other contributing illness.

Identifying:

List the situations that cause you to feel panic:

• What triggers your panic attack?
• What emotions do you feel when you are faced with a panic attack?
• What behaviors do you engage in during the panic attack?
• What physical sensations do you experience? Dizziness? palpitations ? Tremors ?)
• What meanings do you give these experiences?
• Are you overestimating the risk in these situations? Is this bad event likely to happen in reality ?
• What situations do you avoid to stop panic attacks being triggered?
• If you face these situations, how will you benefit from them?
• What safety behaviors do you indulge in when you have panic attacks?

Taking control:

• What irrational unrealistic thoughts are associated with your panic attack that you need to stop?
• What behaviors can you try to resist when you face a panic attack?
• What physical sensations can you accept without trying to stop or control them ?
• Are you willing to drop your safety behaviors and expose yourself to the triggering stimulus for small periods of time?

The steps:

• Rate your level of discomfort on a scale of 1-10
• Make a decision to expose yourself to panic causing situations for short periods of time.
• Repeat to yourself affirming statements such as “I can handle this” over and over again when you are facing the situation.
• Practice deep breathing during this situations .
• Take tiny steps and first expose your self for small periods of time.20 minute exposure sessions can be a good beginning target.

[For example if you face panic attacks while trying to go to your workplace. Practice the above steps until you reach the office, (10% of the goal), stay there for 20 minutes, you can return home if you feel discomfort.

• The next step would be to stay at the office for a longer period of time (20% of the goal).
• Keep increasing the length of exposure gradually until you’re able to handle the situation completely and your body develops an appropriate adaptation response.

If you’re suffering from panic attacks and would like to know about the panic attack treatment, then you should refer to these famous and most widely used treatments from panic attacks

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References:

(1) Westen D, Morrison K. A multidimensional meta-analysis of treatments for depression, panic, and generalized anxiety disorder: an empirical examination of the status of empirically supported therapies. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2001;69:875–99.)