ANXIETY AND PANIC ATTACKS
Generalised anxiety disorder consists of anxious thinking, physical and emotional tension, and feelings of apprehension that intensify around potential or even imagined threats. The treatment of anxiety involves analysing and modifying catastrophic thinking and anxiety expectation, discouraging avoidance of what is feared, and fostering feelings of control and mastery over anxious thoughts and feelings. When anxiety goes on overload, panic can result. The physical portion of panic is known as the “emergency response” with its disturbing symptoms of a racing heart, dizziness, numbness, tingling, and a sense of unreality. These symptoms can be uncomfortable, but they are not dangerous; the emergency response is often a false alarm (although it may not feel so). Self controlled relaxation training (modifying breathing, scanning the body, focusing on sensory awareness, and hypnotically anchoring the relaxation response) helps alleviate anxiety-stimulated physical tension, and quiets disturbing thoughts and impulses until they dissipate.