Overcoming Panic Attack - How To Overcome The Disorder
When you have been diagnosed as having panic attacks the first thing you probably want to know is how can I get help in overcoming panic attack. There is the chemical approach, the psychotherapy approach with medication and the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) school of psychotherapy approach.
CBT, when used on a time-limited basis, has shown itself to be the most effective cure and is the first line of defense. It can be broken down into five stages that may include; patient education, panic monitoring, learning breathing and relaxation skills, cognitive restructuring to correct catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations, and finally, exposure therapy.
Patient Education: In this phase the patient is taught to recognize the symptoms and how they impact the body. Discussion centers around real life happenings that have related to the anxiety. Treatment methodology is explained and relapse recognition is introduced.
Panic Monitoring: Patients are taught to keep a diary of all their anxiety symptoms, their thoughts concerning those symptoms and most importantly what the effect is if they do some behavioral modifications. It is explained to them that these records will be beneficial in the assessment of their attacks and in linking them to causes. Learning breathing and relaxation skills: Most people were never taught to breath or relax. It just happened or it did not. In this phase patients are taught techniques involving breathing and relaxation to use when faced with a panic situation. Patients are encouraged to practice these daily. Cognitive restructuring to correct catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations: Patients are taught to identify bodily sensations that lead to panic. They also learn to put the events into perspective. Once the sensations or events are in perspective the patient is taught to come up with alternatives that would produce less impact. Part of the process is in identifying the origin of the thoughts and analyzing the thought process for any self generated misinterpretations of it. Exposure therapy:The final and most important step in CBT is allowing the patient to confront the identified anxiety producers. Patient and therapist prepare a hierarchy of fears for the patient. The least feared go on the bottom and the most feared on top. Then each level of fear is assigned several situations that would provide the experience of that level of fear. The patient then starts to confront the lower level fears by facing the situation identified. As each level is addressed and overcome, the next higher level moves to the bottom of the hierarchy.
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