How many times have you heard the term “panic attack”? Over the years the term has increased in usage as more and more people are suffering from overwhelming panic and are being driven to despair. In my client work, I’m often asked “When panic attacks, what’s the defence?”

So what is a panic attack?

Although there are lots of clinical definitions, in client work I’ve heard the term used to describe symptoms ranging from mild anxiety to nauseous hyperventilation. Sometimes leaving the client struggling to breathe, the symptoms spiral on top of themselves creating even more panic.

Often the symptoms cause clients to stay at home, unwilling to leave the house “just in case” they have a panic attack. In their attempt to reduce their symptoms, clients often make things worse by staying within the comfort zone of their home. The thought of going outside becomes fraught with the danger that an episode of panic will overwhelm them.

When I see a client, they often describe me as their last resort, at the end of their tether not knowing what else to do.

So what triggers the panic?

I’ve had clients reporting a diverse spectrum of situations ranging from supermarket queues to traffic lights, all causing panic in one form or another.

Underneath the panic there are many neurological and physiological processes going on, few of which I’m knowledgeable enough or qualified to mention.

The basic flight or flight response comes into play with the body releasing adrenaline in copious amounts to deal with a perceived threat, this overload being the cause of the nauseousness or shaking.

My interest is in the client’s perception of the threat. What is it that causes the release of adrenaline in the first place?

In my approach to the treatment of panic attacks, I often use the NLP technique of eliciting the internal strategy, finding the mental process that the client goes through to produce their panic.

After asking the client what I have to do in my mind to produce the feelings of panic, I am often told exactly what process to go through to produce panic. When I run this strategy through my own head I can usually  get some anxiety going and the whole problem becomes very obvious.

For example, I am often told that in order for the panic to start I would have to ask myself a question like “what would happen if I was suddenly to take ill right now?”.

Since the brain has a very useful habit of answering every question put to it, scary pictures often pop up in the client’s head, followed by bad feelings, which are then reinforced by even scarier questions. This process loops around and around until the client either makes the questions so ridiculous that they stop, or they are distracted by something else. Throughout this process, adrenaline is building up and producing the feelings of panic.

This by no means is the only way people can produce panic but I’ve found it’s a very common one. Merely making a client aware of this process that they often perform in microseconds often results in them getting control of the process. Altering the tone of their questioning internal voice can also short circuit the process well before the adrenaline has flooded the system and the panic is unleashed.

Adding a bit of humour also works a treat, you can’t panic while you’re laughing.

My own personal favourite, which I use when I find myself becoming anxious, is to remember Dad’s Army’s Corporal Jones shouting “Don’t panic Mr. Mainwaring, they don’t like it up em!”. That tends to shift my state!

So you may be reading this thinking well that’s all well and good for other people but that doesn’t sound like me. How true, this doesn’t apply to everyone but we haven’t finished yet.

Meridian Energy Therapy in whatever form its presented can also relieve panic attacks. Thought Field Therapy (TFT) has very high success rates with clients, often used as the first line of approach by therapists. Simply tapping points on energy meridians in a specific sequence can eliminate the panic symptoms and deal with the cause. Any good TFT practitioner is able to quickly and easily run clients through this process.

So there’s hope yet for the panic attack sufferer. If you are presently having any sort of problem with anxiety I highly recommend finding an experienced practitioner of NLP or Meridian Energy Therapy and release yourself from the grip of this very irrational but very real condition.

Copyright : Adrian Brown © 2007

Contact Details:

Adrian Brown ACMA C.P.AMT C.Hyp

www.beyondlimits.co.uk

Tel: 0870 478 9145 or 07908 465772

Email: info@beyondlimits.co.uk