Stopping Panic Attacks With CBT

Stopping panic attacks with CBT

Panic attacks are a debilitating problem that can have a huge impact on your life. Panic attacks seemingly come from nowhere but they are in fact a reaction to your way of thinking. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) can help you to break down panic attacks into manageable parts which will help you to control the panic attack and ultimately put a stop to panic attacks altogether.

CBT is a form of psychotherapy that was originally developed to identify, understand and overcome emotional disturbances. The term ‘Cognitive Behaviour Therapy’ was coined during the 1960s by a psychiatrist who reasoned that people who suffer with depression magnify negative thoughts and minimise positive ones. CBT aims to alter those negative thoughts to create positive thoughts and behaviour. CBT methods are used effectively to help people who suffer with panic attacks.

Curing panic attacks with CBT

What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)? The way you think, what you believe and the images you have in your mind about things and situations ultimately affect your behaviour. In CBT terms, these are known as cognitive processes. So, the way you think affects how you feel and your actions – what you then do affects the way you think. CBT attempts to change the way you think and feel. An important part of the CBT treatment for panic attacks is to help you understand certain aspects of your panic attack. Many CBT practitioners know that people share common beliefs about what causes panic attacks. Thoughts about panic attacks include misinterpreting increased heart-rate as a possible heart-attack, rapid breaths or chest tightness as choking or inability to breathe and becoming light-headed as a sign that fainting is imminent. Other panic attack beliefs include the depersonalisation sensation during a panic attack as a sign of going crazy and that a panic attack is going to cause you to do something embarrassing or life-threatening.

If all these sound familiar then you’re not alone and CBT can help you understand what these physical and mental affects are. Increased heart-rate and rapid breathing are a natural physiological process. It is an ancestral throw-back that prepares the body to ‘fight or flight’. During a panic attack, the body is flooded with chemicals that ready for you action and it can be too much to cope with. A panic attack also causes blood pressure to drop and this is why you feel faint but the reality is fainting from a panic attack is near on impossible. People with panic attacks don’t go crazy nor do they lose control to the point where they put themselves in danger or embarrassment. With these myths dispelled, what else can Cognitive Behaviour Therapy do to help you beat your panic attacks?

Tackling panic attacks with cognitive behaviour therapy CBT

CBT( cognitive behaviour therapy) looks at what causes the fear of a panic attack. Panic attacks may be brought on by going to a crowded place or using a lift. CBT encourages you to examine that fear and challenge it. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be taken to the place that causes your panic attack but later on during your Cognitive Behaviour Therapy treatment this may be the case if your CBT practitioner feels you’re ready for this.

CBT works with you to understand your fears and then develops a treatment that is tailored to your panic attack problem. CBT has proved to be beneficial and effective in treating a variety of panic attack issues.

Article Submitted By:
Daniel Alexander, GoToSee Journalist

Date Published:
20/07/08

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One Response to “Stopping Panic Attacks With CBT”

James Beg Says:
June 18th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
My wife started this therapy very recently. It has only begun to be introduced in the country that I reside. What she tells me is that bit feels very logical and gives here confidence that she will be able to deal with her attacks. I am happy she has started here instead of medication.