Panic attacks and High Anxiety
The root of all panic attacks, and high anxiety states, is an unresolved traumatic experience. Fear is definitely involved but the base cause is an inappropriate response to a very difficult situation.
Unfortunately, panic attacks are common and usually mismanaged Fortunately, they are relatively easy to resolve, even if they have existed for years and been medicated IF they are understood.
A panic attack usually makes you feel that you are about to die. (If you have panic attacks skip the rest of this paragraph.) Imagine it: there you are, minding your own business when your heart begins to pound in your body as if it were trying to escape. You break out in a cold sweat but when you look around you cannot find the source of any danger because there isn’t any.
Everyone who experiences panic attacks initially tries to suppress them. To push them away and not encourage them.
So what is suppression and why is it wrong? The desire to suppress symptoms comes about because you do not want them and you have the belief that pushing them away will get rid of them. This is the modern illness. In reality these problems can only be dealt with by going though them.
For the person experiencing the panic attack the problem could be expressed as “I am in a life or death situation and I must get out of it as soon as possible. But which direction should I go in when every direction seems more scary than the last and staying put is terrifying?” They appear to be in a no-win situation but eventually the panic attack subsides and you can appear to get on with your life. Fear of them returning drives people to medication, and other inappropriate solutions, which rarely work.
Panic attacks are the mind’s attempt to resolve a problem by re-living it. Suppression of these symptoms will always prolong the duration of the illness. At the root of all panic attacks is the unresolved traumatic experience. Not always identified but always there.
The traumatic experience can be physical (a car accident, for example), emotional (e.g. multiple grief) or mental (e.g. an extended period of stress). The panic attack is the path to the unresolved trauma. The only way to undo the symptoms is to experience the symptoms fully with complete awareness, calmness and without getting overwhelmed. And this is what the mind is trying to do with the panic attack. Often, it will do this when you are feeling relaxed and in a safe place which is why the symptoms seem to come out of the blue. Other times it will come about when you experience something similar to the original trauma. The problem is that you get overwhelmed and are unable to keep full awareness. And so the mind will keep repeating the experience hoping that you will eventually work your way through it. This is a difficult time for people with panic attacks.
The medical solution is often drugs but while they might take the edge off the symptoms they do nothing to solve the problem.
Luckily, there is a solution. Using the Boulderstone Technique we can slow the overwhelming process down and deal with each bit of the panic attack as it arises, slowly, calmly and with control. We do this by establishing a connection between the mental and emotional components and the physical body. This is what the Boulderstone Technique is all about.
The Boulderstone Technique Practitioner can then tell what is happening as the patient relives the original traumatic experience. By holding the head and feeling what is going on they can slow things down or speed them up as appropriate allowing the patient to process the trauma with relative comfort and ease and not get overwhelmed. By using this method the patient controls the rate of cure - it is the ONLY way that makes sense.
Time taken to sort out panic attacks varies from one hour to a couple of weeks but they can always be sorted out. If you live a long way away, or just want things sorted out more quickly, we can see you for extended sessions.
Taken from: Living with Vitality by John Boulderstone
© John Boulderstone
Panic attacks