We all experience feelings of panic or anxiety at different times in our lives. Experiencing these emotions is far from experiencing a panic attack, though. In addition to the panic, people who suffer from panic attacks can also experience: rapid heart rate, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, shaking, chest pain, hot flashes, a feeling that they’re choking, lightheadedness, nausea, chills, numbness, tingling, headaches, or even a fear that they’re dying. As you can imagine, this is a truly terrifying and traumatic event. Panic attacks also tend to last 20-30 minutes, meaning that people have to suffer a variety of these symptoms for an extended period of time.
Though many people feel they might be dying, the good news is that panic attacks cannot cause death. But just because they aren’t deadly, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated. There are generally only two recognized types of treatment for panic attacks: panic attack therapy or prescription anti-anxiety medications.
If you experience panic attacks, as diagnosed by a mental health professional, you may want to seek out therapeutic treatment, medication, or a combination of both. Anti-anxiety medications are pretty self-explanatory, but therapy treats those who suffer from panic attacks in several different ways.
How Can Therapy Help?
Not only is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) a better treatment for panic attacks in general, studies have shown that the treatment time is much shorter, and results are longer lasting than they are with any other type of treatment.
CBT works to address the thoughts and behaviors behind the panic attacks, and to train you how to reduce attacks. There are several different methods that therapists could use to help you overcome your panic disorder, likely including at least one of these:
- Stress Reduction: Reducing stressors can lead to reduced anxiety. This can be achieved by working on reducing unnecessary stress, and by learning exercises that will help you react to stressful situations in a calm manner.
- Mindfulness: Mindfulness has become increasingly popular, for many different reasons, and can be a useful tool for preventing panic attacks. In these cases, mindfulness is used to teach people how to experience unpleasant situations without reacting negatively.
- Relaxation Training: Some people develop muscle tension due to their anxiety, which can lead to increased symptoms. This type of training involves progressive muscle relaxation and relaxation breathing, leading to reduced vulnerability to future panic attacks.
- Cognitive Restructuring: With this type of training, therapists teach you how to recognize the thoughts that lead to anxiety and panic attacks, and how to replace them with healthier thought patterns. This helps reduce the intensity of your reactions to panic-inducing symptoms.
- Exposure Treatment: After learning some of the above techniques for how to reduce severity or amount of panic, exposure treatment can be implemented. As you can probably guess from the name, exposure treatment is a technique that exposes you to your stressors, forcing you to face what causes your panic attacks. With this controlled exposure, the hope is that you’ll overcome the feelings of panic, over time.
Your Thriveworks McDonough panic attack therapist will create a safe atmosphere, where you will be able to take control over your feelings of panic, and work towards reducing its occurrences and severity. Depending on your specific needs, your therapist may use one or more of the above techniques to help you finally overcome your anxiety. Call (678) 853-5849 to schedule an appointment.
