What To Do After a Panic Attack?

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 11:07
Posted in category Help

 Everything will quickly come back to normal after a panic attack. But you are certainly very worried about getting another panic attack, right

The main reason why you continue to get panic attacks again and again is actually due to a fear of panic attacks. Take away this anxiety or fear and they will stop. In medical jargon this is known as a positive forward feedback loop.

Here’s an example - you have chest pain . You believe that this could be the beginning of another panic attack or maybe even a heart attack. You get very anxious and your fears are coming true and you get even more anxious. The loop repeats itself very quickly and before you know it, you are having a full blown panic attack again.

After a panic attack the only way to stop them from happening again and again is to break this loop.

Behavioral Therapy To The Rescue

Health care specialists generally do not recommend drugs for people who have panic attacks This is because they are generally not effective and only reduce anxiety slightly.

Behavioral therapy is recommended, specifically because it targets this loop by allowing you to learn how change your thoughts when a panic attack may happen.

For instance, if you experience a trigger for a panic attack and start to fear what might happen next, you will instead know how to manage it and subdue your fear. You can use positive statements such as “this is just a panic attack, there is nothing to fear” etc.

Certainly apart from being effective after a panic attack, a good therapy program goes much further than this - I just use the above as an example of how it works. Overall the best recommended treatment for panic attack sufferers is behavioral therapy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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