How You Can Get Help If You Experience Panic Attacks
If you’re someone with anxiety and you ever see those signs you’re about to panic, then you’re probably experiencing the #1 reason why you’d benefit from therapy for anxiety…
Fear.
It could be fear of failure. Or fear about what’s coming. Maybe it’s fear of what a person will do or not do. Or fear about what others think.
And I’ve got a list of 200 more possibilities. Over time, fear can build up into anxiety. This begs the question: what is fear? Why’s it so powerful? And what can you do to overcome it?
(Quick side note: if you’re really looking for help on the deeper reasons behind your anxiety symptoms like panic attacks, then you need deep healing.) I recommend you strongly consider the information I share here too.
Getting back to what I was saying…
First let’s talk about what fear is… then we’ll talk about some ways to get past it. A long time ago, I learned a great definition of FEAR:
False Evidence Appearing Real
What this highlights is the fact that most threats we’re scared of don’t usually happen or come true. Usually, it turns out they’re not real threats like we feared. More often than not, it turns out to be “false evidence.”
I once learned here that 91% of the things we fear and worry about never come true. When I reflect about it, I find this is true for myself and I think most people would agree with the research.
Fear is an emotion. It’s a tool… because in some situations you can use it to save your life. Thousands of years ago, when we ran away from big hungry predators, we needed strong motivators like fear to keep us alive.
When you get a burst of fear, you’ll feel some strange changes happen in your body. And if a person gets scared enough times, their brain gets switched onto “fear mode” and their hardwiring gets stuck. When that happens, their mind is so powerful all they need to do is imagine people or situations and they can get scared of the mental pictures. If what I’m saying makes sense, then you probably also know this can be triggered and difficult to turn off.
At this point you’re probably trying to find help with your anxiety. Fortunately, if you work with a compassionate anxiety therapist, you can rewire your brain and take control of your life back.
Anxiety Therapy Can Help You Move Forward With Hope
The best way to get started is to chart out how to get beyond your challenge in small, incremental steps that build up as far as you want to go. Then, with the guidance and help of a professional, you can make your journey safely there.
If someone slowly and gently approaches what they fear by breaking it up into little chunks… and they see nothing bad happens after the first few steps… then it’s only a matter of time and practice for that person to overcome any blocks because their brain gets reprogrammed and no longer feels fear as a response.
You and I can work on this in therapy through the following ways:
1. Understand what you believe about vulnerability
2. Find and treat your “primary appraisal” of threat
3. Deprogram your “secondary appraisal” and reprogram a new one
4. Prepare and rehearse how you’re going to respond in the future
… and more.
If you’d like to try anxiety treatment with me, please reach out for a free 15-minute consultation.
Find out more about Anxiety Treatment.
About The Author
John Younes, JD, MA, LPCC, NCC is a trained counselor who owns a private practice in Denver, CO. In general, he specializes in depression treatment and anxiety treatment using existential and cognitive therapy practices.
One last thing: if you’re thinking about suicide and are in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number… so for Denver, Colorado, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.