What Are Panic Attacks?
Although panic attacks may seem as if they come out of the blue, they are actually a product of your own thinking. When you break them down into their separate components, you can achieve mastery over them.
A panic attack is really nothing more than bodily sensations of anxiety and a catastrophic misinterpretation of those sensations as dangerous. Your belief that you are in danger results in increased anxiety, which then leads to more sensations and more catastrophic thoughts, creating a vicious cycle between bodily sensations, distorted thoughts, and anxiety, which can rather quickly result in a panic attack. The real problem is actually your mistaken belief that you are in danger – not the panic itself – since panic is in fact an appropriate emotional reaction when you are convinced that you may be in danger. However, your belief is untrue, and when you understand this on a deeper level, you will master your panic. CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy teaches you to understand and challenge your faulty beliefs.