Q. How can I recover. A. Learn as much as you can about your disorder, which will in turn lessen your fears.Become disciplined in practising either mindfulness meditation or another relaxation technique every day.
General Questions & Answers Page One
CBT vs. Graded Exposure
Q. What is the difference between CBT and graded exposure (desensitisation) to situations and or places that people avoid because of their fears?
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) teaches people how to manage their thoughts which create panic and anxiety. As these skills develop they then return to the situations and places that they have been avoiding to further develop these cognitive skills.
Graded Exposure means people go back into situations and places that they have been avoiding without the benefit of any cognitive skills. They simply go back into the avoided situations and/or places and stay there until they feel better.
Can stress cause panic attacks and anxiety?
People react to stress in different ways. Some people may develop high blood pressure, some an ulcer, migraines etc and there are those of us who develop panic attacks and/or anxiety.
There is usually a genetic predisposition to panic attacks and either a build up of stress and/or a major life stress can trigger this predisposition.
Also illicit drugs such as 'marijuana', LSD and cocaine can trigger the predisposition.
Does caffeine play any role in panic attacks?
It can play a role for some people, although not everyone is effected by it. It is very individual and it is an individual decision not use products which contain caffeine.
The same applies to decaffeinated products. Some people move over to these and find they are allergic to the chemicals used to take out the caffeine. Some people find the allergy reaction worse than a caffeine reaction and so they go back to using products with caffeine in them. As we have said, it is very individual and there are no clear cut answers.
