Panic Attack Treatments – Healing Yourself The Right Way

Let me tell you from personal experience – panic attacks are scary. They are scary as hell. In fact, unless someone has actually experienced a panic attack episode, they can’t possibly imagine what they feel like.

So if people in your life are telling you to ‘pull yourself together!’ or to ‘snap out of it!’ do your level best to ignore them. They are probably doing what they think is best to help you overcome these episodes so try not to take their ill conceived advice to heart. You see, non-sufferers just can’t possibly understand what you are going through.

And unless you truly understand panic attacks, you will never be able to beat them. This is the God’s honest truth from someone who struggled for years with very serious panic attacks. Knowledge truly is the most powerful weapon against these beasts – the golden key to disarming their power.

I hope today that I will be able to offer you some insights that will truly help you with the treatment of your own panic attacks and pull you back from what can feel like the depths of despair (and I don’t say that lightly – it can feel like there is no hope sometimes).

Who Am I?

Let me introduce myself. My name is Peter and I live in Arizona in the US. I am a blogger and a recovering panic attack sufferer. I could probably say ‘recovered’ instead of ‘recovering’ here, but to be honest I think I will always have to work at my condition. I have a very slight chemical imbalance in my brain which will always place me at risk of having future panic attacks (I continue to take a low dose antidepressant as part of my treatment).

I won’t go into my whole story with panic attacks and the treatments I have undergone, but suffice to say that I have suffered chronic panic attacks. In fact, when I looked back at my life I realized I had been experiencing panic attack episodes since I was a child but never knew what it was or ever contemplated there was something wrong. I thought this was just the way everyone lived!

In my mid-20’s I went through a life-changing event in my life which lead to what people refer to as a ‘nervous breakdown’. This is really a generic term for the onset of one of a number of mental illnesses or disturbances and isn’t really that useful in determining a treatment for panic attacks, or any other treatment for that matter.

To put it bluntly, I am a real sufferer and know what I am talking about in this space. There are a lot of people I have read online that are clearly not true sufferers and are spreading false information that helps no-one.

I hope I can save you from these misconceptions and misinformation and point you towards the path of recovery.

A Closer Look At Panic Attacks

Just before we get into a discussion on the treatment of panic attacks let’s spend just a few moments having a closer look at what you are experiencing and trying to piece together if you are likely to be, in fact, experiencing panic attacks.

Watch the two videos below and see if they resonate with you and what you are experiencing – if you find yourself nodding your head or saying ‘yep, that’s me’ then you are probably on the right track with your diagnosis.

 

Video 1:
Video 2:

 

How did you go? Does the experiences of the woman in the video reflect what you have been going through? The locations where the scenarios in the videos take place don’t have to match where you have experienced panic attacks, but the general panic attack process should be immediately evident to you if you have experienced it.

Panic attacks are so powerful that just re-watching these videos now has twigged my memory to all the bad episodes I have experienced in the past. The brain is truly a powerful tool – it can be used to create great pleasure for us, but sometimes it can also bring about tremendous pain. The trick is learning and practicing the right tools necessary to train your brain so it works for you, not against you.

First Thing First – Take A Trip To Your Doctor

OK, so if you find the videos above describing what you are feeling the first step you MUST take in treating your panic attacks is to make a visit to your local doctor. I mean it. This is very, very important.

Panic attacks are a very common but sometimes serious disorder. Of course they always, always feel very serious to the sufferer. They are often devastating and significantly affect their ability to carry out their normal daily routine. If you are also suffering from agoraphobia, which is essentially an overwhelming fear of being in a public space where there is no perceived easy means of escape if you have a panic attack, then this can be particularly crippling. I know this all too well as I have suffered agoraphobia too!

If you suspect you are experiencing panic attacks you must first be diagnosed by a professional. No two ways about it.

How many times before, during or after a panic attack have you thought to yourself ‘there is something wrong with me! I must be having a heart attack’ or ‘maybe I have an iron deficiency as I feel like I am going to pass out’. Or how about ‘I must be losing my mind. Could I have a brain tumour? Or cancer?’. This is EXACTLY why you need to go to the doctor first and foremost.

Let me explain.

Once presented with your symptoms, your doctor will likely run a number of physiological tests (such as blood tests, a heart stress test e.t.c) to first rule out any physical conditions that may be present which account for your symptoms. If they do not offer to run any tests, then demand them. That’s right, DEMAND them. There is a very good reason for this that I will explain in just a moment.

If you are in fact suffering from panic attacks this can be a very important and powerful turning point for you. ‘What? Have the doctor tell me I am a panic attack sufferer? How can this possibly be anything powerful?’ I can hear you yelling at your computer screen in frustration. Let me reassure you that this is indeed very powerful for your recovery and further panic attack treatments.

You see, if your tests come back negative for any physical problems and your doctor diagnoses you with a panic attack disorder or generalized anxiety, this PROVES to you there is (technically) nothing physically wrong with you.

Holding a belief that your condition is related to a traditional physical issue (such as a heart problem) when it is really a panic attack disorder is extremely detrimental to your recovery. I would go so far as to say it will prohibit your recovery altogether.

You must truly accept and understand what is actually wrong with you in order to know what you are dealing with and how you will treat it.

I know this is a lot to take in, but at this point I need you to understand something very, very important. Please read on carefully.

Think back to the movie you watched above. Remember what the woman in the video started to convince herself of the day after she came home from hospital. She started to convince herself that she was diagnosed incorrectly – that the hospital got it wrong, and she must actually have some sort of physical problem after all.

This is one of the easiest and most dangerous traps someone diagnosed with panic attacks or a generalized anxiety disorder can fall into. You must trust in your diagnosis. If you don’t, your fear that your diagnosis was incorrect will leave you trapped in a void of fear that will fuel your panic attacks indefinitely.

Panic attacks work on a cycle. It is a cycle of fear. When I used to feel the start of a panic attack I would always say to myself ‘fear builds fear’ to remind myself how the panic attack was manifesting itself.

So to recap here, the first step is to go to the doctor for a proper diagnosis and to rule out any physical issues that may be causing your symptoms. The second is to believe in this diagnosis and trust that you are in fact suffering from panic attacks if this is what your doctor concludes. Acceptance is a very important part of the recovery process.

Understanding The Treatment of Panic Attacks – Medication

If you are diagnosed by your doctor as suffering from a panic attack disorder or a generalized anxiety disorder the first thing that will probably happen is you will be put on medication. Chances are it will be an anti-depressant and probably part of a family of modern drugs called SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor).

Medication is an important part of the panic attack treatment process and the benefits are two fold. The medication will reduce the frequency and severity of your panic attacks and you will begin to feel back to your normal self very quickly. You will feel better, so that is a good thing.

The real beauty of medication, however, is that you will regain your mind-set so that you are in a position to arm yourself with the knowledge, tools and techniques you will need to cope with the condition in the long-term. These should be viewed as life skills, and absolutely must be learned.

“Knowledge is your weapon against anxiety”

Through my experience, I truly believe this statement.

In my personal experience anti-depressant medication is safe, does not alter your mind, make you crazy or have any insane side effects that is sometimes (misleadingly) propagated throughout society. In short, don’t be scared to take them when your doctor prescribes them to you. Most people will need to take medication at least for a while – don’t fear it, just take what you are prescribed. It will make the recovery process a lot faster.

With me so far? Good! Now comes the No. 1 MOST IMPOTANT aspect to your ongoing treatment and recovery, so tune in.

Arming Yourself With The Right Knowledge And Self-Help Techniques – Your True Key To Recovery

I spent a long time undertaking a lot of study on the subject of panic attack treatments – I had a vested interest in beating my own condition after all! I spent a lot of time reading, practicing, and researching all aspects of the condition. I come to see myself as a bit of an expert on the subject, from the point of view of an informed and experienced sufferer.

I have found a lot of techniques that have worked for me, and have waded through a LOT of snake-oil scams and lies fed to desperate people looking for a quick fix or an ‘answer’.

The truth is your recovery is going to be a hard process. It is going to be a challenge, and it is going to test you. But the great news is this – you can totally beat this if you learn and practice the right behavior therapies. I mean this from the bottom of my heart.

I have often thought of writing my own book on panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorders – I am sure I could fill a few volumes just on my own survival and recovery stories!

To be completely honest, the one reason stopping me from sitting down and putting pen to paper is there is actually already a fantastic resource on the treatment of panic attacks. It is called Panic Away and can be found here.

Panic Away contains the basic, yet powerful, knowledge that one must posses about anxiety and panic attacks, as well as complete descriptions of symptoms and possible causes.

Most importantly, it teaches you proven methods to cure panic attacks and get your life back. The author, Barry Joe McDonagh, looks carefully at all the risk factors that can expose one person more than another to experience panic attacks and identifies links between daily life and these debilitating episodes.

What Panic Away does in 147 pages is provide solutions for all people that are suffering from panic attacks who believe there is no hope or no way out. In a practical sense, the author of Panic Away takes you through an entire day in the normal life of a panic attack sufferer. He investigates all the major fears you are experiencing and explains to you, step-by-step, how to deal with each and ultimately how to beat panic attacks.

Let me be very clear here. I have spent a long time researching and understanding panic attacks – both through my own experiences as a sufferer and through a culmination of months of research in medical, psychological and behavioral disciplines. Panic Away is by far the most comprehensive, well structured and successful body of work I have ever found on the subject of panic attacks and most importantly, how to manage and cure panic attacks.

It is so good, in fact, and covers so much valuable material I would have written anyway that there is no need for me to ever write my own work. I wish it would have been around when I was first diagnosed – man it would have saved me a lot of time and heartache. I would have had the knowledge I needed to take action and really recover from my panic attacks a lot faster.

When I first read through the program I was totally amazed. It was as if the author had taken my own personal journey with panic attacks and the techniques I had uncovered to beat them after years of research and laid them all out in one comprehensive guide! I just couldn’t believe it.

What I find great about the program is the constant use of real world case studies in the fight to cure panic attacks. I always learn faster when I can see real examples, and the author of this program clearly understands that many other people learn better in this way as well. It is also helpful as you will be constantly saying to yourself ‘hey, that sounds like me!’ just as you did when watching the videos above. The author really knows what he is talking about, and more importantly can get inside the problem and describe the powerful treatment techniques so clearly.

Now, whenever someone asks me ‘How can I cure my panic attacks?’ I simply tell them:

‘The only way to cure your panic attacks is to follow a proven 3 step process. Firstly, truly understand them. Secondly, learn the proven techniques for training your mind to beat them. Finally, practice these techniques daily’

As long as you follow the techniques described in the Panic Away program, there is nothing stopping you from successfully treating your panic attacks just as I did!

I don’t know what else I can say other than that Panic Away is the best program I have found anywhere on how to understand and treat panic attacks. Period.

Stop dwelling in the agony of panic – it is just such a desperate place to be. Do something about it right now by clicking here to learn more about how Panic Away can (literally) save your life.

Oh, make sure you also read about the great people (all 42,000 of them!) who have already been helped by Panic Away by clicking here.

The techniques taught in Panic Away are the same I used to once again find peace in my life – I just know that they will work for you too.

to learn more about Panic Away.