11/02/2021
👨⚕️ Things to know: Panic Attacks & Disorder 👨⚕️
There are two different types of panic attacks.
One is when there is a real-life stressor, like if people you love are in danger. Your fight or flight response kicks in leading to the panic. Everyone is different: we each have varying thresholds of panic and some might get triggered more easily than others.
Another type of panic, which is our main focus for this post, is the type of panic people experience when they have Panic Disorder. When people have Panic Disorder they worry about and fear having a panic attack. Furthermore, they fear panic will bring some level of harm to them, such as heart attack, stroke, the thought they are losing their mind, or simply embarrassment.
What people with a Panic Disorder don't realize is that, it is the fear of panic that causes panic. It becomes a cycle, "I'm scared I will panic, which makes me anxious." This causes the body to have physical anxiety symptoms (e.g. racing heart, labored breathing, feeling hot). The person thinks "oh no, am I starting to have a panic attack?!" which makes them more anxious. Their body responds in kind and the cycle spins out, causing a full-on panic attack. So, simply put, the fear of panic triggers the panic attack. No wonder people feel like some panic attacks come "out of the blue."
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🔄 How do we break this cycle? 🔄
① - Understand that panic attacks are completely safe. They do not harm you or make you lose control. Keep that in mind. 🎗
② - Exposure therapy. Remember, exposure is doing what you’re scared of over and over until the fear goes away. There are two types of exposure:
First type: We have patients create the physical symptoms of anxiety that make them believe a panic attack is to come, such as doing exercise to raise heart rate and quicken the breath.
Second type: People with panic often start avoiding activities they fear will cause panic (e.g, driving, going to class, going out to eat, giving presentations, etc.) and in turn their world slowly shrinks. Therefore, at our practice we gradually have them repeatedly do those activities, slowly increasing the difficulty over time.
With proper education and by doing these types of exposures, we can reduce the fear of physical anxiety, which breaks the panic cycle. As a result, the patient slowly learns that they can safely go about their life without fear of panic (or if they do panic, it will be ok).
