subject: Panic Treatments: Treating Panic Attacks Effectively [print this page] Most who suffer from panic attacks are often given medication to help control their anxieties. But as many have come to realize, most of these medications are nothing but stopgap measures. These medications are primarily designed not to treat the panic per se, but only to give a sedative effect or create a means of blocking the symptoms of a panic attack. In some cases, medication results in increased tolerance to the drug and oftentimes, dependence to the drug itself. Because of this, many health professionals have come to realize that treating one primarily thru drug intervention is not a long term solution, and have developed many more effective panic treatments designed to treat both the underlying cause and the conditioned response in patients.
One of the most common and most successful methods used in treating one is CBT or Cognitive Behavior Therapy. In CBT, a patient is taught not to fear the symptoms of this. Training patients to unlearn fear induced by symptoms include putting patients in situations that elicit such symptoms. Also called desensitization, a patient will often undergo therapy which induces symptoms such as dizziness, disorientation, heart palpitation, and dsypnea (shortness of breath). Techniques include asking the patients to spin in a chair (creates the feeling of dizziness and disorientation), run in place (increases heart rate and respiration), breathe thru a straw (imitates dyspnea), and hyperventilate intentionally. These techniques of inducing symptoms are often repeated three to five times a day until such time that the patient no longer feels any anxiety whenever the symptoms are induced. It takes weeks for treatments to take effect. Once a patient learns thru experience that nothing bad will happen whenever they experience such symptoms, they will stop fearing it and will begin to adapt accordingly.
Another effective and commonly used method among panic treatments is in vivo exposure. In this kind of treatment, a patient is repeatedly exposed to the actual situation or environment that triggers it. This treatment is especially effective for those affected by agoraphobia or the fear of open or public spaces. The person suffering from agoraphobia is brought to face his fear by exposing him gradually to increasingly open or public places. A therapist can start by exposing the patient to a larger, more spacious room than the patient is used to, then gradually increase both space and number of people inside the room with the patient until the patient can gradually go out of a room and into the sunlight and out in the streets.
In vivo exposure is recommended for patients who experience it when facing a large audience or when asked to speak in front of a large crowd. By gradually desensitizing the patient first, by asking them to speak only to a group of two, and then increasing the number of audience as the patient gets more comfortable, the patient learns to cope with public speaking and discovers much to his surprise that there is nothing to fear at all. As patients learn to control their fears and anxieties, they also learn that panic attacks are nothing to be ashamed of, and that getting panic treatments from professionals is the best course they can take.
