Anxiety and Panic Attacks

When anxiety symptoms manifest we might choose adaptive or maladaptive reactions, the latter can progressively change our life in a – real nightmare – as we feel hopeless and prisoners of our own fears”.

Have you ever experienced a high level of anxiety that stopped you doing ordinary things? And did it happen in specific situations or was unpredictable?

What have you tried to do to overcome the anxiety/panic attacks? Have you tried to -control them, avoid specific situations or distract yourself? Did it work?

The term Anxiety disorders is a category which covers different forms of mental health problems characterised by pathological fear and anxiety. At some point in our life, we all have experienced different levels of anxiety and preoccupations related to a situation which has become a phobic stimuli. It is important to understand how we have reacted to them. In other words -How we have managed that situation.

Anxiety is an adaptive reaction to anything challenging such as for example: a performance, an exam, a direct confrontation, a public speech, an interview, a meeting or a decision to take.

Anxiety is an active and natural response which is processed by our mind, it is an increasing level of alert triggered by something perceived as a danger or just challenging.

Yet, in particular situations our mind is aware that there is something we need to focus on, something that demands our attention. In this sense, anxiety is a positive reaction, necessary for our survival and personal development.

In particular situations we might have experienced an intense level of stress, its causes might vary such as for example- accidents, medical conditions, prolonged stressful situations at work or in our personal life, bereavement, financial breakdown and many others.

Specific phobic situations might evoke physical and psychological symptoms and are more or less intense and frequent depending on individuals’ responses.

High levels of anxiety can trigger psycho-physical responses and similar stimuli might evoke same symptoms. The most common are: palpitations, excessive sweating, dry mouth, cramps, nausea, dizziness and feeling exhausted, hopeless, irritable, low in mood, powerless, without control, worthless, confused and more others…

Anxiety is a defensive mechanism: an ancestral primitive reaction to what is out of our control and virtually harmful. In primitive human beings it was related to the greatest fear of dying and it’s a natural survival response to dangerous situations such as wild animals, other enemies and natural risks.

Since the dawn of time – anxiety had always been a powerful internal alarm and commands: “Get ready to run or fight: your life is in danger!” In challenging situations our body would respond adequately – the adrenalin is pumped within the body, activating a state of arousal leading to an action – ready to be taken.

“When we face our fears and overcome the anxiety, our self-esteem increases and we feel stronger and stronger as a warrior who has defeated the dragon and regained his honour”. We are meeting the ghost of our fears.

Human beings tend to anticipate events and make sense of the world they experience and perceive, by doing this, they create their own construction of reality. We attempt to anticipate events in order to feel more secure.

We tend to predict and control our own life, which is linked to a basic, primary instinct of survival.

We tend to categorise information, smells sounds, memories of particular places and we also recall sequences of actions which were functional in specific contexts.

If in the past we succeeded in using a particular strategy, we tend to use it again in the future.

Unfortunately, the situations we face may be different and the strategy may not help. As a consequence – by reacting to a phobic stimuli over and over again without success – we generate a vicious circle and we end up feeling hopeless, exhausted and depressed.

When you feel anxious, do you avoid that situation or do you face it? When you face it, do you ask for help or do you fight as a fearless warrior?

Analysing the sequence of dysfunctional reactions to a specific phobic situation – is crucial – when we aim to find the solution of our problem.

The Brief Strategic Therapy is a short term therapy which usually lasts no more then 10 sessions and adopts specific models of treatments for specific mental health problems.

The therapeutic intervention aims to break the vicious circle and enable the clients to perceive and react to the problem in a functional way.

The Brief Strategic Therapy” is a model focussed on breaking the vicious circle through specific strategies and has Hello, my name is Hannah, today I am going to talk to you about Panic Attacks and Anxiety. When anxiety symptoms manifest we might choose adaptive or maladaptive reactions, the latter can progressively change our life in a – real nightmare – as we feel hopeless and prisoners of our own fears”.

Have you ever experienced a high level of anxiety that stopped you doing ordinary things? And did it happen in specific situations or was unpredictable?

What have you tried to do to overcome the anxiety/panic attacks? Have you tried to -control them, avoid specific situations or distract yourself? Did it work?

The term Anxiety disorders is a category which covers different forms of mental health problems characterised by pathological fear and anxiety. At some point in our life, we all have experienced different levels of anxiety and preoccupations related to a situation which has become a phobic stimuli- it is important to understand how we have reacted to them. In other words -How have we managed that situation?

Anxiety is an adaptive reaction to anything challenging such as for example: a performance, an exam, a direct confrontation, a public speech, an interview, a meeting or a decision to take.

Anxiety is an active and natural response which is processed by our mind, it is an increasing level of alert triggered by something perceived as a danger or just challenging.

In other words, in particular situations our mind is aware that there is something we need to focus on, something that demands our attention. In this sense, anxiety is a positive reaction, necessary for our survival and personal development.

In particular situations we might have experienced an intense level of stress, its causes might vary (accidents, medical conditions, prolonged stressful situations at work or in our personal life, bereavement, financial breakdown and many others).

Specific phobic situations might evoke physical and psychological symptoms and are more or less intense and frequent depending on individuals’ responses.

High levels of anxiety can trigger psycho-physical responses and similar stimuli might evoke same symptoms. The most common are: palpitations, heart beating, excessive sweating, dry mouth, cramps, muscle tension, nausea, dizziness, feeling exhausted, hopeless, irritable, low in mood, powerless, without control, irrational, worthless, confused and more others…

We tend to predict and control our own life, which is linked to a basic, primary instinct of survival.

We tend to categorise information, smells sounds, memories of particular places and we also recall sequences of actions which were functional in specific contexts.

In other words, if in the past we succeeded in using a particular strategy, we tend to use it again in the future.

When you feel anxious, do you avoid that situation or do you face it? When you face it, do you ask for help or do you fight as a fearless warrior?

Analysing the sequence of dysfunctional reactions to a specific phobic situation – is crucial – if we aim to find the solution for our problem.

The Brief Strategic Therapy is a short term therapy which usually lasts no more then 10 sessions and adopts specific models of treatments for specific mental health problems.

The therapeutic intervention aims to break the vicious circle and enable the clients to perceive and react to the problem in a functional way.

The Brief Strategic Therapy” is a model focussed on breaking the vicious circle through specific strategies and has over 89% of efficacy. It was developed in USA by Bateson, Weakland, Watzlawick and Jackson from the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto and in Italy by Professor G. Nardone who has created specific protocols of treatments for specific mental health problems.