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Exposure for panic attacks in anxiety.
A fear of having a panic attack in anxiety is often the underlying fear behind the broad phobias such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia and social phobia. In other words, you ted to avoid certain situations because you are afraid of having a panic attack, not because of the situation itself.
It is more unusual for someone with OCD to have a fear of having a panic attack, but it is a factor for some people.
When you start to do your exposure work your main concern will be to get through each stage without having a panic attack. This is understandable, and each time you manage it you will feel a little more
confident. The trouble is, deep down, you will still be afraid of having another panic attack.
What you really need is to unlearn that fear – can you imagine how it would feel, if you could shrug and say ‘let the panic come, it doesn’t bother me?’
This leads to a two-pronged approach to exposure work for panic. You should follow the pattern of setting goals that are arranged with increasing difficulty, and you should start work on them in the hope that you won’t have a panic attack while you’re doing the easiest ones and
building your confidence.
At some point though, you will start to work yourself a little harder, and then you might well have a panic attack. You will need to know how to cope – because you can cope, even though at the moment you think that you can’t.
