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Panic Attacks: TakeCONTROL Training

by Dr. Blumberg on December 26, 2011

Fear of Normal Bodily Sensations

Do you live in fear of a sudden surge of heart pounding, shortness of breath, dizziness, lightheadedness, weakness, rubbery legs, heavy head, inner trembling, nausea, lump in the throat, chest heaviness, numbness and tingling in your hands and feet, head pressure, cotton mouth, spacey, and disorientation?

 

Catastrophic Thinking and Doctor Doubt

Even though your family doctor has reassured you that you are in good physical health, do you continue to worry that the doctor missed something serious? When you feel the surge of physical feelings, do you continue to think heart attack, suffocate, die, lose my mind, go crazy, nervous breakdown, freak out, lose control, brain tumor, stroke, faint, collapse, fall down, and choke to death,

 

Situational Fear or Avoidance Patterns

Is anticipatory anxiety and “What if” thinking taking over your life?  Are you starting to arrange your life to avoid feeling the panic attack sensations?  Are you planning in advance how you can leave a situation if the dreaded panic attack symptoms strike unexpectedly? Do you worry about being trapped in a crowded mall, a long line, in heavy traffic on the highway, or in a business meeting? Is the fear of panic taking over your life? Don’t let panic drive you into a corner! Either you takeCONTROL of panic or panic takes control of you. Draw a line in the sand. Don’t blink, don’t shrink, don’t pull back one inch.  Stare your panic attack symptoms down and watch them turn into a fleeting flash of adrenaline.

 

*The Three Factor takeCONTROL Training Stance

Stop running scared! Adopt the Three Factor takeCONTROL Training Stance

1)      Be Symptom Ready.

Are you ready to feel all the normal bodily sensations of adrenaline without fear?

2)      Be Symptom Tough

Become a scientific observer.  Purify your symptoms. Remove any negative associations, threat or fears you have attached to the pure bodily sensations of adrenaline.

3)      Be Symptom Friendly

Embrace the burst of adrenaline as a natural part of living.  Associate the pure bodily sensations with normal arousal circumstances like vigorous exercise.

 

Look at Each Day as a Practice Opportunity to Apply the Three Factor takeCONTROL Training Stance.

1)      Look forward to embracing your favorite symptoms upon awakening every morning.

2)      Take your symptoms with you wherever you go.

3)      When you are out, never let a rise in symptoms scare you into leaving a “trapped situation” abruptly to get help or relief.

4)      Ride the wave of adrenaline without fear.

 

*This educational information should always be used in consultation with your doctor to confirm a diagnosis and review available treatments for panic disorder.

The ideas in this blog are developed from Dr. Blumberg’s panicLINK Program.  PanicLINK is a comprehensive, twelve session, four phase, multi-media educational program on panic disorder. The material in this Blog and the panicLINK Program are copyright protected by Out of the Blue Network, LLC. No permission is granted to reproduce this blog for commercial purposes. For more information about the panicLINK Program connect at www.whypanic.com.

 

 

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