Question:
HOW TO OVERCOME PANIC ATTACKS ?
Answer:
HOW TO OVERCOME PANIC ATTACKS
This information is for you whether you have just started
experiencing panic attacks and know nothing about them, or
whether you have had them for a long time and have studied a
lot about them.
I'm going to tell you some things that you will find hard
to accept. I assure you that they actually do work, and that it is
much easier to free yourself from panic attacks than you now
think is possible. You have nothing to lose, so give it a chance.
Let go of your preconceptions and approach this with an open
mind. I'm going to start off with a somewhat outrageous
statement.
Believe it or not, panic attacks are a figment of your
imagination. I know you find it hard to believe when your
whole body-mind is screaming out for escape. But I hope to
convince you that this is true, and that it is the secret that will
allow you to become free from this terror.
I myself suffered from panic attacks many years ago. I
eventually overcame it. And now I am completely confident
that I will never have to suffer through that again, because I
know how to prevent them and I know how to stop them if
they did start. I founded NLP Berkeley and The Panic Relief
Center, and have helped many people just like you in private
sessions; and I have also assisted people nationwide by
telephone. So what you are about to read is the fruit of over
twenty-five years of experience and study of conventional and
alternative psychologies, self-help approaches, medications, and
other techniques including philosophical and spiritual. But you
will not have to bother with any of that because I am offering
you a point of view and a set of techniques, that while they are
based on complicated understandings, are presented to you in a
simple immediately useful way. Based on my experience of
always being successful when working directly with people in
person or on the phone, I have the hope and expectation that I
can help upwards of 80% of sufferers achieve significant relief
just by reading and using this information.
WHAT CAUSES PANIC ATTACKS?
Whatever the reason for your panic, the fact is that part
of your mind is doing it to you. Now it will eventually be good
for you to clear up the cause. But I can show you how to get
rid of the panic symptoms right away. I hope that you will be
able to cure yourself from the panic by reading and practicing
the exercises I am about to explain to you.
The first step is to realize that all your feelings, good or
bad, are triggered by something you are either telling yourself or
something you are seeing in your mind. Now at this time you
may not yet be aware of the truth of this statement. After you
test it out for yourself you will discover for yourself that this is
correct. Suppose for a minute that this is right. That means that
once you learn to hear or see what it is that triggers the panic,
and once you learn how to interrupt it, you will have the secret
that will permanently eliminate your panic. Remember the
Wizard of Oz. Once they peeked behind the curtain the
mystery was over and the fear was gone. In a similar way, you
will be freed from your fears when you know the real cause of
them. That cause is inside you. That cause is in your mind.
When you realize that you will have won your freedom.
Bear with me for a while longer, and give me the benefit
of the doubt. I need to convince you that this is possible before
you will have the motivation to experiment with the methods I
am about to reveal to you. So I ask that you have patience as I
lay a foundation that you will feel secure on, and the platform
you need to get out of the pain of panic and anxiety.
What if your panic attacks were similar to a dream?
Recall dreams that you have had that were so real that you
were convinced at the time that it was reality. Remember
dreams where you had exquisite pleasure, and some dreams
where you experienced unbearable fear. Notice how your
body behaved exactly as it would have reacted in real life.
What I am suggesting to you is that your panic is like a living
nightmare. Except you are not aware of the "dream" that is
frightening you because it outside of your awareness. It is like a
post-hypnotic suggestion. You have probably seen hypnotized
people do or say things that they couldn't explain. Well the
same is what is happening in your panic attack. The way to get
rid of the panic attack is to become aware of the "dream"... like
waking up from a nightmare. But since you are already
"awake", we need to show you a different technique to become
aware of what is frightening you. When we do, you will
experience relief, just the way you do when you finally wake up
from the nightmare.
Are you with me so far? Remember our agreement, in
exchange for this valuable information and training you are going
to help me by pointing out where this document can be
improved, how I can make it clearer, how it can better capture
people's attention, and have them believe it strongly enough that
they actually do the exercises I am recommending, and cure
themselves.
OK, let's begin. First I invite you to think of a good
friend, someone you like very much. Point to where you "saw"
that individual. Now have the picture move away from you.
Notice the difference in your feelings. Now have the picture
move back to where it was, noticing the change in your feelings.
Now bring the picture much closer to you. What happens to
your emotions. If you are like most people you felt some sense
of emotional distancing or loss as the image receded, and a
feeling of more postive emotions as the picture came closer.
Next think of someone you dislike or just have no
feelings at all about. Now point to that person. Again move the
picture closer and further away, noticing how your feelings are
affected.
The purpose of this exercise is to begin to demonstrate
to you that something you weren't aware of before has been
operating outside of your usual awareness and affecting your
feelings. It is important that you experience and understand this
because it is the heart of the technique that I am teaching you
that can free you from the panic attacks: the ability to notice
how you are scaring yourself, and what to do about it.
For the next part of this exercise notice where in space
the "picture" of each of the persons you visualized in the first
part of this exercise is located. Try moving them around, taking
one person and noticing what happens when you attempt to
move it to the other location. Try a similar move with the
picture of the other person. This shows you the power of your
unconscious mind, how it seems to have a "mind of its own",
and how it codes certain information by location, like a physical
filing system, having a place to store images of people you like
and another location for people you don't like.
You may be wondering how this applies to panic
attacks. Well, the first thing we have to do is get you up to
speed on how your subconscious mind is working behind the
scenes. Then you can learn to peek behind the scenes. When
you can do this with stuff that's not scary you will soon be able
to do it with the panic attacks. So let's keep going. Maybe
now you're not so skeptical about my claims to be able to teach
you how to overcome that panic.
If you've been doing these exercises as we go along you
have already been learning the building blocks that you will use
to build your new life. If you have only been reading these
words without doing the exercises, you might as well stop now,
because you're just wasting your time. If you could have
figured out with your conscious mind the answer to this panic
problem you would have done so already. Your rational mind
is of no use here. Your logic can't help you. All of your usual
intelligence is of no use to you. You need to learn how to get
below the surface to your unconscious mind. If you haven't
been doing the exercises, go back to the beginning, now, and
start all over again. If you have already done them, let's
continue. Otherwise you may as well just quit now, because the
only way this will work for you is if you have the
EXPERIENCE of how your mind is working behind the
scenes; to just know intellectually about the technique will not
do anything at all for you.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE A PANIC
ATTACK?
When you have a panic attack your mind has triggered
a complex series of events, physical and chemical, in your body,
resulting in the unpleasant emotions you experience; and then a
viscious cycle continues as the physical, chemical, and
emotional reactions continue affecting each other in an
escalating way. As you probably already know this doesn't go
on forever. Eventually the body-mind just exhausts itself,
leaving you a worn out wreck. Once you come to believe that
is all there is to it, the battle is half won.
It can be very hard to remember this when you're in the
middle of one of those panic attacks. It's like trying to
remember that it's only a dream when you're in the middle of a
nightmare. Therefore we need to do something ahead of time;
something preventive. What we can do is practice the following
exercise.
It may seem to be ridiculously simple. How could it
possibly do anything? You'll just have to take my word for it
until you test it for yourself, and then you'll discover what our
clients have found: that it works like magic. You have to
depend on yourself to get going with this. You don't have the
advantage of having me lead you through it first hand. ...
