Gary Vaughan

Clinical Psychologist
& Psychotherapist

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Treatment Approaches
Offered

• Cognitive Behaviour
  Therapy
• Psychodynamic
  Psychotherapy

Problems Treated

• Stress
• Panic
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Anger
• Self-esteem
• Relating & Relationship
  Difficulties
• Trauma
• Childhood Abuse & Trauma
• Grief & Loss

Copyright©2011 Gary Vaughan

Panic

A panic attack is a discreet period of intense fear or discomfort that starts suddenly, is extremely distressing (often frightening), and generally lasts for several minutes, sometimes longer.

Common symptoms of a panic attack include:
• Shortness of breath
• Pounding or racing heart
• A choking or smothering feeling
• Tightness or pain in the chest
• Dizziness or light-headedness
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking
• Hot or cold flushes
• Tingling or numbness in the fingers or feet
• Nausea or stomach discomfort
• Feelings of unreality or detachment from oneself or the environment
• Fear of losing control, of dying, or of going crazy

In some cases panic attacks may be predictable, and occur in response to specific feared stimuli or situations (such as to social situations in the case of social anxiety; or such as to spiders, heights, etc. in the case of a specific phobia).

In the case of panic disorder, the panic attacks often seem unexpected, and involve the fear of having the panic attack itself, and/or the fear of the consequences of attacks (such as losing control, of dying, or of going crazy). The fear of having another panic attack often leads to an avoidance of places or situations where a panic attack may occur.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is very effective in treating panic disorder and other types of anxiety disorders (see Anxiety). CBT typically involves:

• Providing information on the nature of anxiety and the nature of the particular anxiety disorder;
• The demonstration and practice of skills/strategies for managing anxiety – including slow breathing, relaxation, and cognitive restructuring; and
• Implementing graded exposure to external situations, as well as to internal physical symptoms, that may trigger the panic, and/or that are avoided in anticipation that they will trigger the panic.

When the individual is feeling more settled, and is better managing his or her anxiety/panic, I then generally recommend using psychodynamic psychotherapy to better understand, and to work through the deeper issues underlying the anxiety/panic (i.e., the source of his or her anxiety/panic). For instance, I have found that for some individuals presenting with panic disorder, being ‘in-control’ (particularly emotionally) is critical. This (pseudo) control may have been possible through the individual being detached from feelings … which may then cause anxiety/panic when circumstances evoke strong emotion that the individual is not ‘equipped’ to handle. Psychodynamic psychotherapy can enable you to connect to, to understand, to adequately manage, and to appropriately express, your feelings (thereby lessening the anxiety/panic, particularly when and where strong emotions are involved).