Panic Disorder Therapy in California
Struggling with Panic Attacks? Effective Treatment Is Available.
Your heart races. Your chest tightens. Your breathing becomes shallow and quick. For a moment, it feels like you might be losing control.
Many people describe panic attacks as feeling like a heart attack or an impending sense of doom. You may begin avoiding places, driving, exercise, or travel out of fear that another attack could happen.
Panic attacks are deeply distressing — but they are highly treatable. With the right support and evidence-based strategies, you can reduce panic attacks and stop organizing your life around them.
What is Panic Disorder?
A panic attack is an abrupt surge of intense fear or discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes, and during which time four (or more) of the following symptoms occur:
- Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
- Feelings of choking
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea or abdominal distress
- Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint
- Chills or heat sensations
- Paresthesia (numbness or tingling sensations)
- Derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself)
- Fear of losing control or “going crazy”
- Fear of dying
Panic disorder develops when panic attacks become recurrent and unexpected — and when you begin worrying about having another attack or changing your behavior to prevent one. Panic disorder can have tremendous impact on daily life and lead a person to start avoiding situations where they fear they might have a panic attack.
How Panic Disorder Develops
Panic attacks occur when the brain’s fight-or-flight system is activated. This system is designed to protect you from danger.
In panic disorder, however, the alarm system becomes overly sensitive — like a smoke detector going off when there is no fire.
Many people with panic disorder begin to:
- Monitor their bodies closely for signs of danger.
- Try to avoid experiencing bodily sensations and/or places where one worries they might have a panic attack. Avoidance maintains the fear of bodily sensations and never gives one the opportunity to learn they can manage these sensations.
- Rely on safety behaviors. A safety behavior is anything a person believes is keeping them safe if and when they have a panic attack (for example, always carrying water, sitting near an exit, always having someone with you when you leave your home).
- Misinterpret normal sensations (like a fast heartbeat) as catastrophic. For example, a fast means "I might be having a heart attack”.
This creates a vicious cycle
The good news is that this cycle can be broken.
