Anxiety Panic Attack & Agoraphobia--Impact of Fight/flight

>disappointment, her sisters were married with other
To Overcome Anxiety Panic Attack it's important tointerests and the relationship with her mother was
understand the contributing factors. Anxiety Panicdifferent—the camaraderie she remembered was
Attack is a response to stress--specific stressorsgone. The result was that she was no happier in NJ
which in addition to nutritional stressors include lifewith her family than she was in the Florida Keys.
situations from which the sufferer would like to runTo me it seem obvious that she'd want to run away
away--the flight response. This article is focused onfrom this whole disappointing mess. How could she
handling the connection between psychological threatsexplain to her husband the move was for naught?
and the fight/flight response.And her teen age son was getting into some trouble
My first visit with the client, Jane, with whom Iwith drugs—another disappointment for which she
developed this technique that demonstrated 80%was unprepared.
success rate, left my office with a full blown anxietyI explained my take on her plight by asking her, “OK,
attack--not a good start. I thought I’d never seeyou were unhappy in Florida, convinced your husband
her again and hoped I wouldn’t hear from herto uproot the family, change jobs, and move back to
attorney in the form of a law suit. Actually asNJ so you’d be happy with your family only to
apologetic and embarrassed as she was, a law suitfind that your relationships with your sisters and mother
was a very remote possibility. But I wonder how manyhas changed and that your son was getting into
clients in similar situations might not be considering lawtrouble. Wouldn’t you just like to run away from
suits against clinicians using inward focusing techniquesthis whole embarrassing mess?” She acknowledged
that can bring on panic attacks. Then again, theirthat she’d like to escape the whole entire mess,
personality is not that of a trouble maker and as longbut it's not her nature.
as they continue suffering from anxiety, they wouldI explained that her brain was simply taking action on
never allow themselves to be in a court room for fearthat desire. I explained the fight/flight reaction to
of having an anxiety attack and having to run away orstress—how when we feel threatened the
lose control.unconscious intelligence gets us ready to fight or
Inward focus techniques are generally what mostrun—even a threat to our egos, family status…--and
professionals use--it's having the client focus onthat since she is not a fighter (personality wise),
relaxing one's breadth, muscles, thoughts... to learnthere’s plenty reason to unconsciously want to
relaxation.  However, in reality, it's these type ofrun away. But being a responsible person, she would
techniques that contribute to anxiety attacks.never allow her self to run away.
Within a few days, Jane did call again. She was tooOK, then we talked about diet and how certain foods
fearful to come to the office—she blamed hercan trigger anxiety—sweets, refined carbohydrates,
anxiety attack on my small 12’X12” treatmentcaffeinated beverages…
room which is more than three times the size of mostAll this was nice, but she still had trouble understanding
treatment rooms. She asked if I’d considerhow she was ever going to gain control of anxiety
in-home sessions. Reluctantly I agreed.since it just happens “out of the blue.”
A few days later I arrived at her home with anEssentially, this is the first step—educating the
Galvanic Response (GSR) biofeedback instrument inconscious mind. I left her home without ever using the
hand. I didn’t want a repeat of our first meetingbiofeedback instrument and focused on the challenge
so I avoided using any relaxation exercises that usedof making a difference in her life—how to shift her
inward focus. I took more time to get to know Jane. Ifrom the conditioned response of anxiety.
got the feeling that she could talk for hours about herFirst it was apparent to me that the panic anxiety label
symptoms, but I wanted to know more about whather primary doctor gave her was in the absence of
stressors led to the beginning of the anxiety attacks.understanding much about her background. She came
According to the Homes-Rahe Stress Scale, I’dto a conclusion that she had a problem and no one
be looking for some rather significant life changes sixknew how to cure it—certainly took her mind off her
months to a year before the onset of symptoms.real problems in life—anxiety was an escape.
Yes, her panic and anxiety started about six monthsIn summary, personality factors of being highly
after she and her family moved back to NJ from theresponsible led Jane to want to escape the seemingly
Florida Keys. “Ah ha,” I thought to my self althoughimpossible situation in which she placed her family--a
I didn’t know what to do with this information atmove for naught. Add to that hi-sugar eating habits, a
the moment. I learned that she was unhappy living insuggestion she gave herself re another family member
Florida. She had no close friends and she missed thehaving had anxiety attacks, and the fight/flight wanting
camaraderie of her sisters and mother back in NJ.her to escape her family status, and voila, she created
It was so much of a problem that eventually sheagoraphobia and anxiety panic attacks. See the
convinced her husband to change jobs and moveresource box for more information on how to
back to NJ with her teen age son in expectation of lifeovercome panic and anxiety.
being the way it used to be. But much to her