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The good news is that there are many methods to effectively treat panic and anxiety attacks. The best treatment for you will be based on many variables: your personality, your resilience, your attitude toward treatment, and your learning style, among others. Treatment can be psychotherapy, also known as "talk therapy", or use of prescription medication. Often it is a combination of the two. The type of treatment, and whether or not medication is used in combination with therapy is determined by the intensity, frequency and debilitation caused by your panic or anxiety attacks.
The good news is that there are many methods to effectively treat panic and anxiety attacks. The best treatment for you will be based on many variables: your personality, your resilience, your attitude toward treatment, and your learning style, among others. Treatment can be psychotherapy, also known as "talk therapy", or use of prescription medication. Often it is a combination of the two. The type of treatment, and whether or not medication is used in combination with therapy is determined by the intensity, frequency and debilitation caused by your panic or anxiety attacks.
The most common "talk" therapy used to treat panic and anxiety attacks is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The premise of CBT is that thoughts, emotions and actions are interconnected. Often emotions are driven by thoughts, sometimes conscious, other times less so. For example, consider the thought "If I don't get an 'A' on this exam, I will fail the course, which would prove that I'm a bad student." Such a thought could lead to shallow breathing and a faster heart beat. This in turn can lead our brains to think that we are getting ready to fight or flee and lead to an increase in feelings of fear or terror. In CBT therapy the mental health professional will introduce techniques such as guided visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, or breathing exercises to try to interrupt the signals in the brain that think we need to prepare for fight or flight. Additionally, clients are also introduced to exercises to try to identify cognitive distortions (untrue beliefs) and provide alternative thoughts with more balanced outcomes. The above thought example may become "If I don't get the score I want on this exam, it would make me feel poorly about my effort. But one score does not indicate my worth as a student or a person." Feel like trying CBT? There's an app for that called CBT Thought Diary, available for both Android and iPhone for free.
The most common "talk" therapy used to treat panic and anxiety attacks is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The premise of CBT is that thoughts, emotions and actions are interconnected. Often emotions are driven by thoughts, sometimes conscious, other times less so. For example, consider the thought "If I don't get an 'A' on this exam, I will fail the course, which would prove that I'm a bad student." Such a thought could lead to shallow breathing and a faster heart beat. This in turn can lead our brains to think that we are getting ready to fight or flee and lead to an increase in feelings of fear or terror. In CBT therapy the mental health professional will introduce techniques such as guided visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, or breathing exercises to try to interrupt the signals in the brain that think we need to prepare for fight or flight. Additionally, clients are also introduced to exercises to try to identify cognitive distortions (untrue beliefs) and provide alternative thoughts with more balanced outcomes. The above thought example may become "If I don't get the score I want on this exam, it would make me feel poorly about my effort. But one score does not indicate my worth as a student or a person." Feel like trying CBT? There's an app for that called CBT Thought Diary, available for both Android and iPhone for free.
Another type of therapy that is often used in conjunction with breathing exercises is Behavior Therapy. Often this type of therapy involves the use of biofeedback equipment which monitors heart rate and other physical functions that are considered involuntary to teach clients to have more control over these functions during times of stress and anxiety. A client will be hooked up to a device that may use a beep or a flash of light for each heart beat, and then instructed to use a relaxation technique to slow their heart rate. The feedback is immediate: as heart rate slows, so does the flash/beep on the monitor. A similar monitor might measure skin temperature or blood pressure or muscle tension. The goals of Behavior Therapy is to teach clients to tune in to their inner physical functioning and recognize when heart rate or muscle tension is higher than necessary and could lead to an anxiety attack and to use learned relaxation exercises to gain some level of control over these functions to thwart an attack.
Another type of therapy that is often used in conjunction with breathing exercises is Behavior Therapy. Often this type of therapy involves the use of biofeedback equipment which monitors heart rate and other physical functions that are considered involuntary to teach clients to have more control over these functions during times of stress and anxiety. A client will be hooked up to a device that may use a beep or a flash of light for each heart beat, and then instructed to use a relaxation technique to slow their heart rate. The feedback is immediate: as heart rate slows, so does the flash/beep on the monitor. A similar monitor might measure skin temperature or blood pressure or muscle tension. The goals of Behavior Therapy is to teach clients to tune in to their inner physical functioning and recognize when heart rate or muscle tension is higher than necessary and could lead to an anxiety attack and to use learned relaxation exercises to gain some level of control over these functions to thwart an attack.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a somewhat newer treatment modality which emphasizes acceptance and being present centered while learning how our language and cognitions have the potential to lead to suffering. While other therapies, such as CBT, try to teach language skills to change an emotional experience, ACT teaches how to "lean in" and accept the discomfort as part of your personal experience rather than fight against it, which, based on ACT theory, can exacerbate and prolong suffering. Language skills such as use of metaphors and paradoxes are common with ACT in teaching clients how to connect with avoided fears in ways that are healthy. Look at the Association for Contextual Behavior Sciences for and in depth description of ACT.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a somewhat newer treatment modality which emphasizes acceptance and being present centered while learning how our language and cognitions have the potential to lead to suffering. While other therapies, such as CBT, try to teach language skills to change an emotional experience, ACT teaches how to "lean in" and accept the discomfort as part of your personal experience rather than fight against it, which, based on ACT theory, can exacerbate and prolong suffering. Language skills such as use of metaphors and paradoxes are common with ACT in teaching clients how to connect with avoided fears in ways that are healthy. Look at the Association for Contextual Behavior Sciences for and in depth description of ACT.
By no means is this an exhausted look at psychotherapy for panic and anxiety attacks, but at the time of this writing these three, in combination with mindfulness skills, are the most often evidence based treatment for panic and anxiety attacks currently in use.
By no means is this an exhausted look at psychotherapy for panic and anxiety attacks, but at the time of this writing these three, in combination with mindfulness skills, are the most often evidence based treatment for panic and anxiety attacks currently in use.
Anti-anxiety medications can only be prescribed by a physician or an ARNP (often a psychiatric nurse practitioner) who will monitor patients for the effectiveness of medication, side effects and management of dosing. There are three main types of medications used to treat panic and anxiety attacks: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac or Sertraline, Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) like Effexor or Cymbalta, and Benzodiazepines like Xanax or Ativan. It is important to communicate with your psychiatrist or other prescribing physician about your experience using these medications. While one class may not be effective for you, another might be. NEVER take any of these medications without a talking without first talking to your medical doctor first. They can be dangerous if not monitored by a professional prescriber.
Anti-anxiety medications can only be prescribed by a physician or an ARNP (often a psychiatric nurse practitioner) who will monitor patients for the effectiveness of medication, side effects and management of dosing. There are three main types of medications used to treat panic and anxiety attacks: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac or Sertraline, Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs) like Effexor or Cymbalta, and Benzodiazepines like Xanax or Ativan. It is important to communicate with your psychiatrist or other prescribing physician about your experience using these medications. While one class may not be effective for you, another might be. NEVER take any of these medications without a talking without first talking to your medical doctor first. They can be dangerous if not monitored by a professional prescriber.
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