Treating panic attacks with Exposure Therapy
Racing heart, sweaty palms, uncontrollable shaking - it’s a normal reaction, you tell yourself, and it will go away. Maybe you need to take a day off or do some yoga, but then it happens again and again, and you start to wonder if it's something else. A quick search online of your symptoms, and you may find yourself reading about panic attacks.
Panic attacks explained
Panic attacks are sudden episodes of intense fear or anxiety, often accompanied by physical reactions where there is no apparent danger or cause for alarm.
Symptoms of a panic attack
Typically panic attacks include some (but not all) of these symptoms:
A strong feeling of dread or danger
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Pounding or racing heart rate
Sweating
Shaking or trembling
Hot or cold flashes
Chills
Weakness or dizziness
Nauseous feeling in your stomach
Lasting anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour, panic attacks typically occur without warning. And they can even happen while you are sleeping! Thankfully there are many treatment options to help you cope or overcome the fears that cause you to spiral into a panic attack.
Exposure therapy treatments for panic attacks
Exposure-based therapy assists you in confronting your fears. Whether it is a situation, object or experience that causes you to spiral into a panic attack, exposure therapy can assist you in safely confronting any stimuli that you fear. Several strategies under exposure therapy may help you cope:
Graded exposure - During graded exposure therapy, you work alongside your psychologist to craft a detailed list of how to tackle a fearful situation and then rank the list in a hierarchy of severity. In this method, low-level fears are addressed first, building up to highly feared stimuli once an individual can cope successfully with lower-level triggers. In practice, graded exposure may see an individual look at pictures of a snake, then build up to stand near a snake in a cage up to petting or holding a snake. Graded exposure therapy considers your comfort to determine the speed at which you are exposed to your feared stimuli or situation.
In vivo/imaginal exposure - In vivo and imaginal exposure therapies provide the space to safely experience your fears in your mind or real life. In vivo exposure therapy confronts your feared stimuli in the real world. (e.g. a person who fears heights would be taken to a high point to face their fears). Imaginal exposure therapy asks you to vividly imagine a traumatic experience, feared object or activity, allowing you to work on altering your reaction in a safe space.
Interoceptive exposure - During interoceptive exposure therapy, your psychologist will assist you in deliberately bringing on physical sensations that are harmless yet fearful for you to experience. (e.g. hyperventilating to produce shortness of breath, then using breathing techniques to calm the breath). Interoceptive exposure therapy aims to increase an individual's tolerance of physical sensations they experience during panic attacks.
Psychologists in Geelong taking new patients
Panic attacks can be debilitating. Reach out for support to cope or overcome the fears that cause you to spiral into a panic attack.
Call our reception on 0414 232 043 or email reception@psychologyoutcomes.com to set up an appointment with our Geelong psychologists who are taking new patients.
