In my practice, Dr. David Barlow’s cognitive-behavioral program is the treatment of choice for panic disorders. The program consists of approximately 16 weeks of treatment that focuses on physiological, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of a panic disorder. 

If you are reading this page, it is likely that you or a significant other is suffering from panic attacks. Fortunately, much research has been done in this area and successful treatment is available.

The trigger of a panic attack is a sudden change within an individual’s body that is characterized by certain sensations. Imagine walking down the street in Manhattan, coming to a curb, looking both ways before crossing the street, deeming it safe, and beginning to cross the street. Suddenly, while in the middle of the street, you see a bus looming down at you. You quickly become mobilized to jump back on the curb. Once safe on the curb, you notice your heart is racing, perhaps some shaky knees, a sweat, and a feeling of momentary weakness. These sensations are understandable to you after becoming suddenly frightened or feeling threatened. Because these sensations “make sense” to you, you do not become frightened of them and will continue walking down the street. Within a few seconds these sensations will disappear without any further incidence.

Now imagine sitting in your living room and suddenly getting those same exact sensations out of the blue. Your heart is racing, you are breaking into a sweat and feeling shaky and weak. There are the same sensations as on the streets of New York, but with one big difference…..there is no bus. Because our basic nature as human beings is to look for reasons for the things that are happening to us, as you sit in your living room having those sensations, you will immediately attempt to somehow find a logical explanation. Because there will be no bus around or any other logical external explanation, your tendency will be to look inside your body and MISINTERPRET the e sensations as something seriously wrong with you physically. You may think you are having a heart attack, about to faint or lose control. While you could understand these sensations and NOT BE AFRAID of them when you were able to attribute the BUS as a logical reason, in your living room, the exact opposite is true.

Without a logical reason for the sensation, you introduce FEAR into this already very uncomfortable experience. It is at this precise moment that the future course of this experience will be charted. Once FEAR of the sensation is introduced, you are highly likely to spiral into panic. If you are able to accept these sensations WITHOUT FEAR, this experience will NOT result in panic. Instead, these sensations will dissipate without further incidence. Herein, lies the key to successful and enduring treatment of a panic disorder.

In addition to the fear phenomenon, another dynamic is operating during the course of a panic disorder. Panic attacks seem to occur in settings such as malls, public transportation, elevators or escalators, theaters, supermarkets, waiting in lines, driving (often pm highways, bridges, or tunnels), and restaurants. They are aligned with a sense of feeling “trapped.” Interestingly the individuals who experience a panic attack in any of these settings begin to feel and revisit that setting, they will once again get a panic attack. They, therefore, begin to fear and/or avoid that setting. Subsequently, over the course of time, the scope of settings that elicit avoidance mechanisms tends to broaden. The individual then finds themself avoiding more and more situations, thereby limiting their ability to fully function within their lives.