Cognitive Therapy Basics

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychiatric illnesses affecting both children and adults.  There are about 40 million known cases in the United States alone.  These disorders usually develop from a complex set of risk factors which may include personality, brain chemistry, genetics, and life events.  Though anxiety disorders may be derived from so many factors, they are highly treatable.  However, perhaps because of the stigma attached to anxiety disorders, only about one in three people afflicted actually receive any type of treatment.

It is important to know that the phrase “anxiety disorder” is an umbrella term for more specialized disorders including Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia), and Specific Phobias.  Regardless of what specific anxiety disorder a person has, they can be quite debilitating with a variety of symptoms.  In most cases, anxiety disorders present themselves with other mental disorders such as depression.

The symptoms of anxiety orders may manifest themselves at an early age or start suddenly, perhaps after a triggering event.  During high stress periods, anxiety disorder symptoms may present themselves more frequently or with greater severity.  Symptoms include sweating, headache, muscle spasms, hypertension, palpitations, fatigue, and exhaustion to name a few.

As mentioned, anxiety disorders are highly treatable.  Patients suffering from anxiety orders may be treated by psychosocial therapies, medication, or a combination of both.  Psychosocial therapies are usually attempted first and include Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), anxiety management, relaxation therapies, exposure therapy, and psychotherapy.  These therapies always involve working closely with a mental health professional, usually a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker.  During such therapies, patients and professionals discover what the source of the anxiety disorder is and how to deal with it.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is one of the most useful of the therapies for anxiety disorders.  CBT actually helps people change their thinking patterns so that their reactions to anxiety-provoking situations become less severe.  Successful CBT can make patients understand that their panic or anxiety attack is not really a heart attack

Many times, anxiety disorders are treated with not only psychotherapies but also with medications.  The drugs most commonly associated with anxiety disorder treatment include SSRIs, which are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, beta blockers, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants, and MAOIs, which are monoamine oxidase inhibitors.  Medication alone will not cure anxiety disorders, but will help keep them under control.

The most successful treatments of anxiety disorders involve the combination of medication and psychotherapy.  Many doctors will prescribe medication shortly after diagnosis so that the symptoms are alleviated quickly (usually within 4 to 6 weeks) and allows the psychotherapy protocol time to become effective.

Fear is an innate feeling of danger to a risky or threatening situation. In event of danger or risk, there would be an adrenaline rush into our body muscles so that we can react defensively to protect ourselves in the survival fight. The brain would decide on the better reaction of whether to fight for our survival or to run and hide away from the danger called fight or flight reaction. This emotion is natural instinct of humans and has evolved and ingrained in our daily lives. For some people, there are cases where the state of emotional fear lingers for so long that it cannot be eliminated as a result of the fight or flight reaction that results in what is known as panic attacks.
Panic attacks are an exaggerated condition due to fear. While some fear is healthy, in panic attacks there is an overwhelming amount of fear. The panic attack can come into our lives with no warning at all. There may be no logical reason why we can get into a state of panic, however once a panic attack occurs it is very intense and there is nothing that we can do about it.
Several physical symptoms of panic attacks can be identified which include heart racing, pounding or skipping heartbeat, tightness or discomfort in chest region, choking sensation, sweatiness, shaking and trembling, butterflies and nausea, hot flashes or chills, numbness in certain parts of the body, erratic breathing or shortness of breath, dizziness, light-headedness and so forth. The psychological emotions felt by these victims can be very damaging and frightening that they, who suffer panic attacks, can feel that they are dying or losing their minds. Things seem unreal to them or may even feel that they are detached from their bodies while some are so fearful that they must escape and flee the situation altogether.
In fact, the symptoms mentioned above are the sensations and feelings that one experiences whenever they are facing impending threats or dangers. As reinstated earlier, these symptoms occur to sufferers of panic attacks in circumstances without presence of danger even in safe environment and under no logical explanation. There is no surprise at all that the panic attack can occur even when the victim is at sleep.
Panic attacks cannot or difficult to stop when it attacks and they normally happen without any potential signals or predictions. This is because the excessive level of hormones imbalances and adrenalines that flood the body and muscles causes such extreme terror and desperation that are so beyond the grasp of the actual situation. It is therefore not only necessary but compulsory to attempt to control the exaggerated emotions of fear using different appropriate means of treatments.
The suffering of panic attacks is very dreadful and agonizing according to many victims of the panic attacks. The feelings of extreme fear and overwhelming terror are very intense that they feel like eternity once the attack starts to kick in.
Terror, to the normal people living normal lives, is part and parcel of our lives and the evolution. To victims of panic attacks, they are constantly and relentlessly facing the fear and terror everyday of their lives. There are a great variety of treatment techniques and therapies available in the marketplace for curing the panic attack and disorder. Do not give up on yourself and start visiting professionals to seek treatment and get rid of the panic attack forever for your lifetime.

Did you know that as many as 6 million Americans suffer from panic disorders? This is not even counting all the people who experience one or two panic attacks in their lives without developing a panic disorder.
Panic attacks are becoming more and more common, and panic disorder is a real, widespread illness. Fortunately, panic attacks are also very treatable; the vast majority of people suffering from panic attacks can get better with proper treatment.
Panic attacks can manifest themselves man ways, and are most commonly described as quick, often unexpected attacks of terror or fear, combined with sometimes intense physical reactions. People who are going through an anxiety attack can experience everything from chest pain and difficulty breathing, to nausea, shaking, sweating and more.
The combination of physical discomfort and extreme fear often leads to the person suffering from panic attacks developing a fear of his or her own symptoms. This “fear of fear” is a very common almost “classic” symptom of a panic disorder.
Often a person who has experienced really bad panic attacks biggest fear is having another one. It can get to the point where it is no longer a specific situation the anxiety sufferer is afraid of, but rather any situation that might trigger an anxiety attack.
This “fear of fear” is often why people with panic attacks can start making their world smaller and smaller. As many as about one third of people with panic disorder develop agoraphobia. Agoraphobia basically means that your life has become so limited by your anxiety that you are housebound or only able to go out when accompanied by certain people that you have a lot of trust in, like your spouse or best friend.
This tendency that people with panic attacks have to limit their own lives in an attempt to control their anxiety is one of the reasons why it is extremely important to deal with panic attacks and start treating them a soon as possible. It is very common for people with anxiety to just pretend they don’t have a problem and avoid the situations they are uncomfortable with, rather than addressing the real issues. This approach may help them feel like they are doing ok for a while, and they may even think they have gotten rid of their problem, but it is not a long term solution.
Panic attacks are basically your body’s way of screaming at you to make changes in your life. I once heard it described like your body is trying to get your attention and it’s like throwing pebbles in a pond; at first it throws little pebbles that only cause small ripples in the water. You ignore it, so your body starts throwing rocks in the water that create much larger ripples and maybe even a small splash. You still ignore it, and eventually your body is throwing boulders in the water, creating huge waves that make you wet.
Your boy is not trying to hurt you by giving you panic attacks; it is trying to make you listen. You don’t necessarily need to go through years of therapy to overcome your panic attacks, but you do need to listen. Your body is trying to tell you that what you are doing is not working, and the only way you can get different results is through changing what you are doing now.