What is Your Symptom Orientation?
You cannot have a panic attack unless you react with fear and dread to the normal bodily sensations of adrenaline, shortness of breath, dizziness, heart pounding, rubbery legs, chest tightness, disorientation, weakness, tingling, blurred vision, hot flashes, sweats and inner trembling.
When you are in a panic state, you are locked into a negative orientation to bodily sensations.
When you feel shallow breathing, you may worry, “Will this be my last breath?â€
When you feel rubbery legs, you may worry, “Will my legs give out?â€
When you feel inner shakiness and disorientation, you may worry, “What If I snap and have a nervous breakdown.â€
When you feel rapid heart pounding, you may worry, “What if my heart pounds out of my chest and my heart stops beating.â€
You can also create panic with fighting-symptom thoughts.
You can think, “I can’t stand feeling this way one more second. When will these symptoms go away? Will I ever feel myself again? I am following all the steps and nothing is working.†These more subtle alarming thoughts can also fuel your panic attack symptoms.
Symptom Neutralization: Your Body Bit You.
The first powerful panic attack sensitized you to normal bodily sensations. Now you walk around monitoring your body. You can notice subtle changes and react with fear to natural feelings that used to go unnoticed. You notice your heart beating when walking up a flight of stairs and become concerned about your heart. Without even realizing it, you have caused an accelerated heart rate by reacting with fear to the heart pounding.
Changing Your Negative Orientation to Your Body Occurs Through a Process of Symptom Reconditioning
It only takes one panic attack to create fear of panic attacks and body sensitization. A systematic training program is required to reverse the negative orientation acquired through experiencing one panic attack!
You Must Neutralize your Negative Bodily Reactions.
You must identify and study and eliminate your automatic negative reactions to your body. I call this process symptom purification. The bodily sensations are not your problem. Panic Attacks are caused by the automatic terror and dread reactions to your bodily sensations that occurs, often without you being fully aware of what you are doing.
Only After You Purify Bodily Sensations Through a Process of Symptom Reconditioning, Can You Move Toward Symptom Acceptance. Â Â
Development of a Positive Orientation toward your Symptoms (Welcoming the Symptoms) is the last stage in takeCONTROL Training.
 The key point: You cannot welcome panic attacks.   Welcome the purified bodily sensations of adrenaline only after they been neutralized and normalized. Then Feel the Feelings without Fear.
 The Three Factor takeCONTROL Training Stance: the Essence of the Six Step Training Method
1)Â Â Â Â Â Be Symptom Ready-Are You Ready to Feel the Pure Symptoms Without Fear?
2)     Be Symptom Tough-Don’t Blink, Don’t Flinch, Don’t Pull Back One Inch. Stare the Symptoms Down.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Be Symptom Friendly-Welcome the Return of Symptoms for the Rest of Your Life.
Taken from the panicLINK Program, Phase One-takeCONTROL Training, Sessions 1, 2, 3 and 4.
 *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, Phase One-takeCONTROL Training, Sessions One through Four. 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 and the Free Trial Offer connect at http://whypanic.com/trial-offer-landing-page.
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