If you experience an unexplained, sudden, and intense fear and anxiety that causes your body to have intense physical symptoms, such as, rapid heartbeat, sweating, chest pain, or hyperventilation, you may be having a panic attack. If you experience regular attacks, your doctor may diagnose you with panic disorder.
The two typical panic attack treatments are medications and psychotherapy. Sometimes, the two are combined. However, medications have many potential side effects, some of them serious. For this reason, you may want to consider therapy first.
The most common, and studies suggest the most effective, therapy for panic disorder attacks is cognitive behavioral therapy (also called CBT). CBT usually lasts for 10 to 20 sessions with a cognitive behavioral therapist.
Goals of CBT
The goals of cognitive behavioral therapy for panic attacks are for you to understand the nature of your attacks, reduce your fear of attacks and their physical symptoms, and reduce your fear and avoidance of situations that in the past have triggered panic attacks.
CBT will teach you to change your reactions in situations that provoke anxiety and panic and to change how you associate panic attacks with certain situations and bodily sensations. In other words, you learn to replace thoughts that support attacks with more accurate thoughts about yourself and the situations in which you find yourself.
How CBT Works
Although your therapist will use CBT techniques specific to your condition, the basic steps of CBT are:
You learn how to identify anxious thoughts and reactions as they happen. One technique is to keep a daily journal where you record anxious and panicky thoughts and the events related to them.
You learn to understand and challenge your well-established and automatic thoughts and reactions.
You complete behavioral homework assignments from your therapist to help you change your behavior.
Through observing yourself and your reactions, you start to recognize the false assumptions underlying your anxiety and panic.
As you recognize these assumptions, you find and implement new ways to deal with your fears.
According to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, CBT typically has a lasting effect, with low rates of relapse, without continued psychotherapy or medication. Other supportive therapies that are part of CBT include general counseling and deep breathing exercises for relaxation.
If you experience panic attacks, help is available. Talk to your healthcare provider about cognitive behavioral therapy and other panic attack treatments.
Carol Wiley is a freelance writer who writes a lot about health and wellness, among other topics. For more information about panic attack treatments, visit http://www.squidoo.com/panic-attack-treatments-for-you.
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