Panic Attacks / Anxiety Disorder
Panic can be considered as the most fierce and ‘difficult’ of all the emotions we can feel But what is it, and what is the best way of understanding / describing it ? Well, you may well have heard of the "fight-or-flight" response that we all have within us. And that response has been one of the main keys to our survival throughout the time we have been on the planet. Consequently in prehistoric times, when we were faced daily with the threats of being eaten by animals or attacked by other tribes, this fight-or-flight would kick in. Immediately, we would have that ‘adrenaline surge’ giving us the ability to stand and fight or run away rapidly.
Of course, in modern day life, the stresses we encounter differ greatly from that of prehistoric times and our fight-or-flight response ‘goes off’ when there is no apparent threat to our well being or even survival. So, with no perceived danger for us to focus on, our bodily responses and frightening beliefs can ‘spiral’ into a response called a panic attack.
Now if you think of this fight-or-flight response as comprising of two parts. The first being an ‘internal alarm’ – think of it as a fire alarm bell, which is designed to be loud and frightening, but the alarm itself itself is of course not dangerous. It is there to guarantee our safekeeping and keeping us alive on the occasion of a real fire. So when our ‘internal alarm’ goes off, the second of our fight-or-flight responses triggers and we naturally look for this danger. Clearly we want to be aware straight away the danger that is confronting us so we know whether to fight or flee.
What happens though if your ‘internal alarm’ is a false alarm? The alarm continues to sound in order to save you from this ‘danger’ – but of course there isn’t any. The only thing that’s activated is the ‘alarm’ in your mind and the senses of your body making you panic because the alarm has gone off.
What sensations do you experience during panic? Whether you realise it or not, the sensations you feel during one of these episodes of unnecessary high anxiety are simply the result of the fight or flight response. Of course responding to these sensations only makes them worse, and no matter how intense these feelings and sensations can be, they are in fact harmless. The reason they become so intense is because there is no real danger and you are therefore left to focus on these unpleasant feelings.
I know the sensations may feel unusual, even frightening, especially if it is the first time you have experienced them. The fact is, our fight or flight response doesn’t get turned on very often – if ever at all, so without a real emergency to focus on they will feel very strange – but harmless. These sensations can vary in intensity and can include the following :
- Palpitations or a thumping heart.
- Sweating and trembling.
- Hot flushes or chills.
- Feeling short of breath, sometimes with choking sensations.
- Chest pains.
- Feeling sick.
- Feeling dizzy, or faint.
- Fear of dying or going crazy.
- Numbness, or pins and needles.
- Feelings of unreality, or being detached from yourself.
- The feeling of being ‘rooted to the spot’.
Unfortunately, when these sensations arise, we wonder what is happening, you might find yourself wondering if you are having a heart attack, going crazy, going to faint/pass out or perhaps you feel you are even going to die. These are all symptoms / thoughts clients have reported to me over the years. The good news is, none of these will happen. Of course you should get yourself checked out by your Doctor, but the chances are that you will find that there is nothing medically wrong with you.
The use of Hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) allows you to not only relax much much more and to ‘let go’ of any cumulative ‘reasons why’, it also allows you to reach the conclusion that you can control the panic: that you will not faint, pass out, go crazy or die ! The techniques I use are very powerful and as you progressively relax and start to believe that panic does not mean you are never going to recover or lead a normal life again, so your anxiety and panic become less and less.
The cause(s) of anxiety / panic attacks are normally a build up of stress over a period of time. This could literally be over a few weeks, but normally over a longer duration. I have known client’s stress to have started in their childhood and the symptoms of panic have emerged later in life, and quite often after a fairly innocuous event. Whatever the cause, you CAN recover from it, believe it and you will !
The techniques I use will normally bring about a progressive recovery over some 6 – 8 sessions. These would usually be over a weekly basis – certainly initially, although it is quite common that as the client starts to recover I space out the sessions fortnightly or slightly longer. As ever this would all be discussed with you in the initial consultation, but also over the weeks as therapy progresses.