Areas of Specialization - Adults

Panic Control Treatment and CBT for Agoraphobia Treatment

What is cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder?

Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches helpful techniques to cope with panic and anxiety so that the individual does not have to rely upon avoidance, superstitious objects, distractions, alcohol or drugs. An individual learns to anticipate the situations, thoughts, and bodily sensations that are associated with their panic attacks through the use of customized monitoring forms. This increased awareness and understanding enhances a person's control of their anxiety and panic, fosters a more accurate recollection of events, and provides a means to evaluate progress.

Cognitive behavioral therapy provides educational information regarding the nature and function of anxiety and panic. Individuals are taught the three main components of anxiety and panic (physical sensations, thoughts and behaviors) and they learn the causes of the bodily sensations of panic and how they are not harmful or dangerous. Clients are trained in relaxation to prevent hyperventilation that often triggers panic attacks and to reduce muscle tension throughout their body. These exercises increase the individuals control over their body and helps replace alarmist thoughts such as "I am having a heart attack" with more realistic and appropriate appraisals such as "I am just hyperventilating, I can manage this." Clients are specifically helped to identify and change patterns of thinking that cause them to misperceive ordinary events, situations or physical sensations as dangerous and having catastrophic consequences. In other words, cognitive behavioral therapy helps create a more accurate, realistic perspective by teaching clients to stop jumping to "worst case scenario" conclusions.

The last step of cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder is confronting the fear. Clients are first helped to become less fearful of bodily sensations by safely and gradually exposing themselves to the physical feelings they avoid or experience as frightening. Subsequent to clients practicing their new coping skills to overcome these fears, they are taught to confront situations or events that they have avoided. Clients are helped to create a hierarchy of agoraphobic situations from the least anxiety provoking to the most fear inducing circumstances. Clients are next instructed how to methodically challenge themselves with increasingly difficult items on their hierarchy. The client continues to work from the least demanding to most challenging situations until they have successfully conquered all items on their hierarchy. Thus clients gain control over their life as they learn to stop any avoidance of situations in which they fear having a panic attack, and overall they establish a healthier and proactive lifestyle.

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