Are You Plagued By Intense Panic Attacks?
Are you constantly worried about when your next panic attack will come on? Is it hard for you to go out in public or interact with others due to your fear of having another panic attack? When these intense episodes of anxiety come on, does it feel like you are dying?
Maybe you’ve been in and out of the doctor’s office, or even the hospital, because of the stomach pain, dizziness, shakiness, and shortness of breath you’ve been experiencing. These visits are likely costing you a lot of time and money - only to be told that the symptoms you are experiencing are simply a response to stress. Because you do, indeed, feel like you’re dying when you experience a panic attack, you may feel disappointed to hear this from your medical providers and feel frustrated that these visits don’t prevent future attacks.
Your worries about when and where the next panic attack will occur are likely taking up a lot of space in your mind. You might have even changed your normal routine in order to experience some relief from these worries. As a result, you might have stopped doing things you enjoy, such as going to the mall with friends or taking a walk outside.
It’s likely that you’ve been under a lot of stress in the past, and that your body has learned to respond by going into fight-or-flight mode, but in overdrive. You feel like you’re living in fear, thinking mainly about survival, and struggling to stay in the present. And right now you just really wish you had the skill-set necessary for managing panic attacks.
At the end of the day, you just wish you could feel safe and be free of worry about having another anxiety attack. What you desire the most is to have your life back.
Though you can’t banish fear completely, you can certainly learn strategies to cultivate feelings of peace and stability. Coping with panic attacks in a healthy way, or even eliminating them altogether, is absolutely possible with the guidance of a skilled clinician.
Our Ever-changing Society Can Make it Challenging to Live Without Fear
The amount of changes and stress we experience on a daily basis can take a toll on our minds, bodies, and spirits. Fast-paced careers, being bombarded daily by a negative news cycle, and financial insecurity can cause our minds to enter a spiral of worried thoughts. Because we are subjected to these stressors over a long period of time, we may not realize that we are at risk of experiencing panic attacks.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 11% of people in the US have a panic attack each year, and about 2-3% of those people go on to develop panic disorder. Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety at some point or another. Anxiety is our response to stress - it’s meant to keep us safe from danger. Unfortunately, we often experience feelings of intense stress or anxiety from thoughts and situations, and our body still interprets these things as an immediate danger, which leads to a bodily response that is unwarranted or out of proportion to the threat we are experiencing.
Because anxiety and panic attacks impact your mind, body, and spirit, the team at Be Your Best Self & Thrive Counseling is here to help you identify all of the areas of your life that are being affected and treat you as a whole person rather than a collection of symptoms. This will help you become adept at managing your stress, which will in turn help you reduce, and even eliminate, your panic attacks once and for all.
A Holistic Approach to Panic Attack Treatment Can Help You Put Your Worries to Rest
It’s likely that you’ve browsed self-help books and Google numerous times seeking panic attack remedies. While this information can be helpful at times, the problem is that it isn’t tailored to you and your specific situation. The holistic approach at Be Your Best Self & Thrive Counseling allows you to have the individualized treatment experience that you need in order to heal your mind, body, and spirit from the effects of panic attacks.
Our team of clinicians will get to know all aspects of your life as part of this holistic approach - thoroughly exploring how you experience your internal world as well as the world around you, rather than just looking at the symptoms you experience. We believe that cultivating healing and understanding in all areas of your life will allow you to overcome panic attacks in the long run, not just in the here-and-now.
We’ll take as much time as needed to build a trusting, safe relationship with you so that we can co-create a comprehensive treatment plan that will assist you in reaching the therapy goals that you set, and will work together with you as a team to give you the knowledge and skills you need to achieve those goals.
In our work together, we’ll utilize components of neurobiology as well as somatic therapy to help you understand what is actually happening inside of your body when you’re experiencing a panic attack. The more awareness you have of how the body’s fight-or-flight mechanism works, the easier it will be to use the body awareness and relaxation techniques we’ll teach you through somatic therapy. You will develop a strong understanding of the mind-body connection so that you are better prepared for your body’s reactions to stress and anxiety, reducing your fear of the next panic attack.
Techniques from Eastern medicine can also be helpful tools for panic attack treatment. Pranayama (yogic breathing practices) can help you learn to control your breath and allow you to reduce the sensation that you are dying that may arise during a panic attack. This and other simple Eastern approaches to healing, like meditation, mindfulness, and yoga postures, allow you to experience relief from your symptoms and trust in your ability to overcome your fears.
Throughout our work together, we may also incorporate elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help you recognize how your thoughts, behavior, and emotions work in conjunction to lead to a panic attack - and how you can make changes in these areas in order to manage and prevent future panic attacks. The modalities from CBT allow you to rewire your brain in ways that improve your emotional regulation, decreasing the likelihood that your anxiety will escalate to the intensity of a panic attack.
Like waves in the ocean or clouds in the sky, emotions come and go. Know that your anxiety is only temporary and that there is professional panic attack treatment available to allow you to find relief and live without fear of your emotions.
The power to feel safe and at peace is yours for the taking. Let the team at Be Your Best Self & Thrive Counseling provide you with the strength you need to grab onto it and feel free again.
Perhaps you want panic attack treatment, but your fear is holding you back…
Facing my anxiety sounds scary and uncomfortable. I’m not sure if I can do it
You’ve probably spent a lot of time trying to avoid your panic attack triggers, so starting something new, like therapy, may feel a bit overwhelming. It can be scary to sit in front of a stranger and be vulnerable about what you’re experiencing, and allow that person to see you in a state of stress or fear. Know that making that initial call to schedule is the most important first step towards growth - the team at Be Your Best Self & Thrive Counseling will guide you the rest of the way, and make the therapeutic space as comfortable and safe as possible as you gradually learn the skills you need for managing panic attacks.
I barely have the time and energy to leave my house - how am I supposed to get to therapy?
While we find in-person therapy to be very beneficial, we can meet with you from a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform for your convenience. Perhaps one of your treatment goals will be to meet your therapist in the office, and we can teach you the skills you need to gradually feel more comfortable and safe to do so. Remember that therapy can sometimes be a bit hard, especially in the beginning, but in the long run the cost of continuing to avoid social situations and other life experiences is far greater.
If I just try harder, I can probably get over my panic attacks on my own.
While you will ultimately be the one that makes and implements the changes you need for panic attack relief, it can be extremely difficult to do so without support. Without the guidance of a skilled therapist, you may end up developing unhealthy ways of coping with panic attacks. Your therapist at Be Your Best Self & Thrive Counseling can provide you with the expertise and tools you need to overcome your panic and live a healthier, more balanced life.
Discover a Life Free of Fear of Anxiety Attacks
If panic attacks have left you feeling overwhelmed or seem to be keeping you from living the life you want to live, holistic treatment at Be Your Best Self & Thrive Counseling can help! To find out more about how we can support you, contact us to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation and get started today!
**Please note that during COVID-19, we are offering both in-person and online therapy sessions.
How to get started
You’ll meet with one of our trained clinicians to discuss your needs, provide answers to any questions, and review our process and offerings.
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