Cognitive Therapy Basics

Treatment for panic disorders falls into the categories of drug or non- drug therapies, and in this article we concentrate on non-drug treatments. If you have ever experienced a panic attack you will have some idea of the sheer terror that panic can induce, and anyone whose life is punctuated by chronic anxiety or panic disorder will be eager to find a cure.

Natural or non-drug methods of controlling symptoms of panic disorder generally fall into two categories:

*Ways to control symptoms.

In this category would be included methods such as relaxation techniques, yoga, and meditation. These techniques help to counteract the stress of anxiety states, and help you to feel generally happier and more at peace. When you are having a panic attack, the breathing tends to become shallow and rapid – hyperventilation. This in turn is responsible for some of the symptoms that are experienced, such as light-headedness and a tingling sensation. Deep breathing can help reduce the severity of a panic attack, as can breathing into a paper bag (yes, really!)

*Ways to try to stop the problem altogether

Methods that focus on changing the way you think about panic attacks. This in turn will change your bodily response to whatever it is that normally sets off an attack. For example, say you had a panic attack while sitting on a bus, and avoided going on a bus again for fear that you took another attack. What is the worst that would really happen? You would not be stuck on the bus – you could get off at the next stop and walk for a while. Once the trigger situation has lost its fear, the panic will disappear.

This sort of treatment is called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT and is one of the most successful methods of treatment for panic disorders.

Exposure therapy and hypnotherapy are also used with some success.

Do you want to stop having panic attacks? If you are a sufferer the chances are that that you dream about what life would be like if you didn’t have to worry about taking a panic attack. This article aims to help you understand what is going on during an attack and gives an outline of the available treatment for panic disorders.

Panic attacks are an exaggeration of the body’s natural ‘fight or flight’ response to danger. Unfortunately they tend to occur when there is no real danger, and often when a sufferer is relaxing or even sleeping.

The heart rate increases, often causing a thumping feeling or palpitations. Sweating increases and the breathing rate gets faster. It feels like the room is closing in, or spinning, and there can be a choking sensation or nausea. The over-all feeling is of terror.

A panic sufferer is likely to want to make sure that they have an escape route in all situations, and will not like being in places where there are crowds of people or no easy and quick way out. A panic attack commonly lasts from 10 – 20 minutes but the experience can leave lasting memories, and if they are recurrent, as in panic disorder, they can lead to loss of confidence and avoidance behavior. Often panic disorder sufferers will avoid public transport, large sports venues, church services, public meetings, or large shops.

Several forms of therapy are suitable to help you stop having panic attacks. Your doctor may recommend tablets, and there are a selection of drugs that can be helpful in panic disorder. These include sedatives, beta-blockers, and antidepressants.

Alternatively, methods such as CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy have been shown to be helpful. This generally involves spending time with a therapist, looking into why panic attacks happen in the first place, and understanding the relationship between your thoughts about panic and the attacks themselves. Other treatments include relaxation therapy, breathing exercises, meditation, and hypnotherapy.

Have you been wondering what is available as treatment for panic disorders? You may want to know why panic attacks come about in the first place and what on earth to do about them. If you are a sufferer you will know just how limiting they can be – you may have to think twice before doing anything at all outside your home. Don’t be a slave to panic. Read this article to find out more.

Panic attacks can happen to anyone – male or female, young or old. If they occur just once or twice they do not cause a big problem in the normal running of life, but once they start happening regularly, in different situations, you may start to feel anxious about them happening again, and take steps to avoid such situations. This is called avoidance behavior and you may have a panic disorder.

Situations where avoidance behavior is commonly used include:

Public transport. Buses, trains, airplanes and any other form of transport where there are lots of other people in a confined space tend to bring on panic attacks. The main problem is the perception that there is no way out. Once you start thinking that and becoming uncomfortable and agitated, the panic attack is starting.

Driving in your own car. Fear of having an accident is often the trigger, and as soon as the thought is planted in your mind, the panic rushes in.

Large shops and public places. Again the fear is generally of not being able to get out, and sufferers will often be more comfortable as long as they know they are near to an exit. As soon as that comfort is taken away they will start to become agitated, and again the panic cycle will start.

These are just examples of a few of the most common places where panic attacks occur. However if you suffer from severe panic disorder with avoidance behavior then life will be full of small things that tend to bring on attacks, and daily activities will be reduced to the absolute minimum that you can get away with so that you don’t have to go out or interact with other people.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

A choice of treatment for panic disorders and anxiety is available. Medication can help with the acute effects and can help to reduce the number of attacks. Self help techniques such as breathing exercises, yoga, and meditation can be useful. Some people have also found hypnosis to be useful.

But the best technique for long-term cure is CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. Techniques used in this therapy help sufferers to identify how their thinking affects their panic attacks, and how changing the way you think can take away the panic.

Natural treatment for panic disorder works best to get rid of symptoms for good.

Medications can help the symptoms of an acute attack, and can reduce the likelihood of an attack happening, but will not cure the condition.They may control the symptoms enough so that natural methods can be used effectively.

Panic attacks are caused by an over-activation of the body’s natural “fight or flight” response to danger. They become more troublesome as the sufferer begins to perceive more and more places, situations, thoughts or items as “dangerous” because an attack is likely to happen and the whole situation can become a downward spiral of cause and effect, which is called panic disorder. As a result a sufferer will try to avoid situations that are likely to provoke an attack, and be chronically anxious about having to come in contact with something that causes panic. This is called avoidance behavior and can lead to agoraphobia.

Natural treatment for panic disorder falls into 2 main groups:

*Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT

This is one of the most effective forms of therapy. It involves therapy sessions with a psychologist who will help a sufferer understand what conscious thoughts are likely to trigger a panic attack. Therapy will aim at changing the thought process so that the trigger is no longer a threat.

* Exposure Therapy

Again this involves several sessions with a therapist who will gradually expose a sufferer to a panic trigger in a controlled way. With each exposure the panic response should be small enough to handle and will gradually reduce as exposure becomes more frequent and prolonged.

Both Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy are recognised by many therapists and clinicians as being powerful goal-directed therapies .  Substantial empirical research supports this fact. The cognitive behavioural approach is to focus on the root of emotional disturbance  –  our thinking. Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is a methodology whereby hypnosis is integrated into the  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

What is a cognitive and behavioural approach?

The cognitive and behavioural approach is based on the philosophy that our own thinking determines how we respond to any situation we encounter.  Our thinking, our feelings and our behaviour are interdependent.  The ability to recognise the interdependency of thinking, feeling and behaviour, together with the acceptance of emotional responsibility, is the core of our emotional wellbeing and can also contribute significantly to our physical health.

Every day we face events which can contribute to our emotional responses; however, they do not cause the response.  In fact, it is inconsequential as to whether an event is real or imaginary.  We are not “disturbed “or “upset” by events themselves, rather, it is how we have learned to react to them. If events were responsible for our reactions then we would all react in the same way to any given event.  The reaction which coincides with an event is a consequence of what we choose to believe about the event.

More about events

An event might be a person, a place, an occurrence, a world disaster, an illness or a rejection, and our emotional response to such an event is within our control.  In other words, each of us is responsible for our own emotional reaction to an event; this responsibility is not shared with others.  Likewise, we are not accountable for the emotional responses sustained by other people to events which result from our actions or behaviour, even if our behaviour may have been a contributing trigger.  How often have you heard statements such as: “Missing a deadline makes me feel awful “, “The state of the world depresses me”, “Bad driving drives me mad” , “She makes me so angry”  or, “Public Speaking scares me”?  The fact is that none of these events make you feel anything. However, these events can trigger thoughts, and it is these thoughts which can result in either healthy or unhealthy emotions or symptoms. Our beliefs about certain events can be rational, healthy and flexible or they may be irrational, unhealthy and inflexible.  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focuses on irrational, unhealthy and inflexible beliefs which may result in a myriad of unhealthy consequences, (for example anger, depression, anxiety, headaches, eating problems, IBS and unhealthy behaviours).

Missing a deadline by itself does not make you feel awful.  However, your belief that missing a deadline is something which must not happen might be the reason you feel “awful “.  Missing a deadline is an event which has a trigger that activates an unhealthy/irrational belief you are holding. Likewise, the state of the world and bad driving do not make you do or feel anything. They are events which have a trigger that activates unhealthy /irrational beliefs.

It is a fact of life that bad, sometimes very bad, things do happen; life can be very difficult, uncomfortable and unfair.  The manner in which we perceive these negative events determines our response.  It is important to recognise that the approach which assumes that you have responsibility for your emotional responses neither condones “ badness “  nor suggests that we have responsibility for “badness “ which may take place.  However, this approach does presuppose that we have a choice about how we respond to events in our lives, irrespective of their perceived “goodness” or “badness”.

Whether your feelings or behaviour in response to an event in your life are appropriate or inappropriate depends on whether the belief triggered by the event is a healthy or unhealthy belief.

More about beliefs

Our beliefs can be healthy or unhealthy.  A healthy belief is realistic, rational, appropriate and flexible. An unhealthy belief is unrealistic, irrational, inappropriate and rigid. It is the unhealthy beliefs which give rise to unhealthy consequences, for example anger, jealousy, guilt, anxiety, depression,  low self-esteem and self-worth, obsessions , self pity, world pity, behavioural problems (such as eating issues, excessive drinking and avoidance), physical problems (such headaches and IBS) and much more.

In accordance with the philosophy of cognitive behavioural therapy, unhealthy beliefs are a consequence of having rigid rules about how we would like life to occur.  Our strong  preferences  as to how we would like life to be have developed  into irrational, rigid and dogmatic demands which we believe must be met; if not, we  become disturbed  in ways such as described above.

The aim of cognitive behavioural therapy is not about changing your preferences! The aim is to help you to change your unhealthy thinking so that logically and emotionally you are able to accept: “just because I really want my preferences in life to be met, that does not mean they have to be met and that when life’s events are contrary to my desires and hopes it is not an indicator that life is awful, people are awful or that you are a failure and worthless and that you cannot cope”.

How does Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy compare to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?

While the philosophy behind cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy  is the same, hypnosis, which is a means of enhancing communication, can influence the effectiveness of the therapy.  Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy simply involves the integration of hypnosis into the therapy.    Hypnosis and cognitive behavioural therapy are a powerful combination. Hypnosis enhances the effectiveness of therapy and also can bring about results in fewer sessions than might be needed otherwise. Read more about hypnothrapy here http://www.stephaniemaclennan.com/hypnotherapy.html

There are various situations in life where an individual may have to go through the procedure of depression. Although the cause of depression varies from person to person, the main reason may be due to some personal problems which may be work related, relationship problems or due to family problems but personal and family problems mainly contribute to the build up of depression.

What does Depression cause?

For many, depression does not seem complex because they live with it. But depression causes problems in work, social life, family adjustment. If you suffer from depression then you must be well aware of the problems that you face, but it is not only you that suffer, but people around you suffer too because they care for you.

Types of Depression:

You may wonder how can there be different types of depression. The truth is that there are 5 types of depressions and the following section explains it further.

Ø Major Depression: This is the most serious type and the variety and number of symptoms are huge.

Ø Dysthymic Disorder: A depression that is generally moderate and has been present for nearly two years or at times longer.

Ø Unspecified Depression: This type exists in people who have depression that is quite serious in nature but not severe in nature.

Ø Adjustment Disorder Depression: A type of depression that occurs with people due to problems or due to a crisis in one’s life.

Ø Bipolar Depression: People facing this type of depression may have low and high mood swings along with other symptoms.

If you suffer from depression, depression therapy will help you to combat it. You can do depression therapy on your own and the first thing you need to do is stop thinking negative. Negative thinking is the main reason for depression and it pulls any person back from achieving what they want to do. The following steps given below are useful when considering a good depression treatment :

1) In the initial stages set goals that are not tough for you by breaking them down to smaller ones and then accordingly proceed to fulfilling the goals.

2) Avoid staying alone and instead always try to have friends or relatives around so that you can enjoy every moment. By enjoying yourself you keep all problems away.

3) Avoid negative thinking whenever it comes to your mind, instead think the positive version of it and try and achieve that.

Although you can start and catalyze a depression therapy, getting help from a psychologist would speed up the healing process and also make it simpler for you.

There are various websites which you can search to get loads of information about depression therapy, its types and ways to implement to help people suffering from depression.