Panic attacks can strike at any moment when you least expect it. People who suffer from a panic attack disorder can experience this condition negatively impacting their daily life in many ways. This issue is a reality for many people, but knowing how to manage it can help you get back to living your life.
It’s easy to feel alone when you suffer from panic attack disorder, but between 1.5% and 4% of people have this condition, so you are far from alone. Unfortunately, people often forgo treatment for this condition. The positive news is that you don’t have to suffer in silence anymore. If you suffer from panic attacks and are looking for a practical approach to managing symptoms, call Thriveworks Columbus, Ohio (Polaris) at (614) 356-8565.
Am I Suffering from a Panic Attack Disorder? What Are the Symptoms?
Panic attack disorder is more than suffering from a random panic attack here and there. This problem is a condition that often requires the help of a therapist or counselor because it can significantly interfere with your everyday life. It’s essential to seek advice so that you can learn helpful techniques to manage your panic attack disorder better. Symptoms of a panic disorder include:
- Chest pain
- Nausea or stomach pains
- Feeling faint or dizzy
- Fast or pounding heartbeat
- Feeling of choking
- Sweating
- Intense fear of dying
- Fear of going crazy or losing control
- Feeling detached or not real
- Shortness of breath/almost feeling like being smothered
- Tingling or numbness in the body
- Frequent panic attacks that aren’t tied to a specific trigger
While an actual panic attack may pass in between 5 and 10 minutes, the effects can linger around for hours, especially in people with panic disorders. If you recognize any of these symptoms, and want to schedule an appointment with a therapist or counselor at Thriveworks Columbus, Ohio, by calling (614) 356-8565.
How Panic Attack Disorder Therapy Can Help
Panic attack disorder therapy aims to help people with managing the symptoms of their disorder. Approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be practical tools for treating panic attack disorders. Since CBT focuses on transforming negative thoughts that can otherwise exacerbate this condition, people can learn how to re-center and better focus on managing their disorder.
A therapist or counselor at Thriveworks Columbus can help you manage this condition. They can help you better understand your symptoms and potentially why you have these struggles. The goal for the therapist or counselor is to help you uncover what the root of this condition is and help you through this issue. The panic attack disorder counselors at Thriveworks Columbus can assess your situations to find the best approaches to help you. Since everyone is different, a single strategy for everyone won’t work.
What Techniques Do I Learn in Panic Attack Disorder Counseling?
As we’ve mentioned, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to helping people through their panic attack disorder. This focus means that the strategies can vary depending on each case. The panic attack disorder therapist will share a variety of techniques that can help you manage your panic attack disorder inside of therapy and out in the world. These are some of the different approaches that they may offer clients:
- Relaxation Techniques: Techniques for relaxation are highly effective when a panic attack is about to happen. But, this can also be effective at keeping the panic at bay throughout the day. Many times you hold onto stressors so much that it bears down on you, triggering a panic attack. Relaxation techniques work by doing breathing exercises to re-center and calm down when things are making you anxious. Eventually, this can help reduce the overall anxiety that you feel.
- Meditation/Mindfulness: The goal of meditation and mindfulness is an approach that aims to help the client become more aware of any thought patterns or other triggers that can cause a panic attack. With mindful techniques, the counselor teaches the client how to experience anything unpleasant without having an adverse reaction to them. This procedure will reduce the cycles of panic and fear that cause a panic attack.
- Ways to Reduce Stress: Reducing the stressors that can trigger an attack is effective in managing a panic attack disorder. Learning how to calm specific situations and reducing unnecessary stress can help you manage this disorder.
- Desensitization: Desensitizing is a popular technique used in CBT. It helps the client overcome anxiety and fear caused by specific triggers. This method is a useful tool because it helps the client to see that they can control their anxiety in those situations that they fear.
- Exercise: Exercise has numerous benefits to your physical health, but this can be highly effective for your mental well-being as well. Some people consider exercise to be a natural reliever of anxiety.
The counselor or therapist will help you understand that everyone has fears and anxiety that they struggle with, but there are things that you can do that will manage your disorder. There are things that you can control that you can focus on, instead of stressing about the things that you can’t. Think about working with one of our therapists and counselors at Thriveworks Columbus, Ohio.
Schedule a Session at Thriveworks Columbus, Ohio
Thriveworks Columbus, Ohio (Polaris) can help you learn strategies to cope with your panic attack disorder. To better serve clients, we not only offer the usual daytime sessions on M-F, but we also offer evening and weekend sessions as well. We have no waiting list so that you can get set up with an experienced counselor right away. This is an affordable investment in your mental health, especially since we accept most major insurance plans.
Our panic attack disorder counselors and therapists have undergone thorough and extensive training. Start your journey on improving your daily life with panic attack disorder by contacting Thriveworks Columbus, Ohio (Polaris) at (614) 356-8565.
