Help for panic attacks and anxiety London.

Psychological therapy for anxiety and panic attacks is available at our anxiety clinics in London and Hampshire.

Panic attacks or panic disorder can be experienced as very frightening, as the physical symptoms can feel totally uncontrollable. Clients suffering from panic attacks have described how the psychological and physical symptoms just appear out of the blue and they can feel as though they last a long time.

Panic attacks are also very common and many people experience them in their life, maybe only once, whilst others may experience panic more frequently. It is important to note that a panic attack is NOT a sign of serious mental illness. Certain situations, events or people may trigger a panic attack and at other times the triggers may not be recognisable.

Therapy for panic attacks will certainly help to reduce the distressing feelings of panic. Undertanding the triggers for panic and knowing how to proactively use the body to communicate with the brain can change the physiology of the body to a more calmer state and fairly rapidly.

For example when a panic attack occurs, CO2 and oxygen levels change within the body and there is an acidity change within the blood. This acidity change is picked up by a specific part of the brain and pushes the body towards more of the panic symptoms.

We can use a specific breath technique to change this rapidly, the breathing technique is not to be confused with mindfulness breathing or relaxation techniques, it is very different. The outcome is that your body does relax. However what you are doing is specifically and deliberatly communicating with receptors in your brain to tone down the stress response with immediate effect. On going general breathing techniques can then be applied to assist this  process further.  This is very much actively using the biology of the body in a deliberate way.

As with generalised anxiety and other anxiety disorders, there are other specific interventions to assist in reducing the symptoms of panic. Quite often there is a fear of the physical sensations, understandably so as they can be very frightening. 

However the more fearful, the more awareness there is on the panic symptoms. Thus therapeutic techniques must include showing you how to re-evaluate the body sensations and take the necessary action physically, to reduce the symptoms and bring the body back to balance.  Looking at the thought process is equally important as thoughts are not seperate from the body, when we think we set off a cascade of peptides into the body, thus the nervous system responds with physical sensations and reactions.

Mike will discuss these strategies with you,  showing you how to use them and when. Alongside the physiological techniques.  You can learn how to desensitise yourself to the physical sensations understanding that these are not dangerous, learning how to bring the body to balance and develop  a new positive inner narrative towards the symptoms.

Psychological symptoms of panic attacks and panic disorder

Fear of dying

Fear of losing control

Fear of choking

Fear of having a heart attack

Fear of going crazy

Physical symptoms

Feeling faint

Feeling smothered

Difficulty breathing

Difficulty swallowing

Rapid heart rate

Muscle tension