Overcoming panic attacks is a critical quest of each person who suffers from this debilitating anxiety disorder.
The sudden rapid heartbeat, difficult breathing, nausea, feelings of dread, even chest pains that resemble heart attacks...
who would go through these terrifying episodes if they could prevent it? But the person sensing a panic attack coming on feels totally controlled by an unseen malevolent power.
Some therapies focus on conceptually recognizing that one's fears are irrational, in a left brain kind of way.
Unfortunately, tied to this approach is the value judgment that the person suffering is weak and is just not putting forth the needed effort to control their thought processes or emotions.
Some very misguided therapists will even try to convince the sufferer that his or her symptoms aren't even real! What will this approach do but further deplete the sufferer's self-esteem and confidence? However, the most insightful psychologists of today focus on the role of the subconscious mind in perceiving a threat when one does not actually exist.
Our subconscious mind is a repository of all kinds of mysterious impulses and entrenched belief systems.
It is where our most entrenched thinking patterns that originate in our earliest childhood reside.
Overcoming panic attacks requires entering into this hidden part of ourselves so that deep patterns that are unhealthy can be changed.
Of course, not all aspects of the subconscious mind are detrimental.
The subconscious remembers everything and thus helps us make needed associations that we automatically depend on throughout the day.
But the very power that supports and enhances our lives can also wreck extreme and terrible havoc.
When this unhealthy imbalance occurs we need to pull away the curtain and allow our senses to perceive the truth.
In so doing we acquire the power to change.