This is the final video in my series on panic attacks if you haven't seen
all the others click on the link at the top of the screen to be taken to the first one.
Hopefully you have watched all the other videos so you should now have most of the knowledge you need
to stop panic attacks, but now I'm going to show you how to use that knowledge
and there will also be some bonus tips at the end.
But first a quick recap. You have learned that a lot of the symptoms that you worry about
can be explained by the effect of your amygdala launching your body into fight-or-flight mode.
You have learned the safety behaviors make your hippocampus associate everyday situations
with danger, which primes your amygdala to be constantly ready to go into a panic attack.
You have learnt a tool to deal with negative thoughts that drive these safety behaviors.
You have learned how behavioural experiments can
challenge the beliefs that drive the negative thoughts and safety behaviors.
You have learned how gradual desensitization can retrain your hippocampus so that it does not
associate everyday places and situations with danger, so it will not trigger panic attacks.
Now it's time to put all this together in a systematic way. Start with your safety behavior
list and your desensitization list. Then make a progress chart that looks something like this.
Each month write down how many safety behaviors you have given up and how many items on your
desensitization list you have managed. Remember it should only be one or two a month at the most.
Put this list somewhere you will see it every day.
Go back to these videos as many times as you need. If you are struggling with negative thoughts
view video six again and do their thoughts on trial exercise. Bookmark the neutralizing a panic
attack video on your phone so if you start feeling panicky while out desensitizing you can use the
video to remind yourself what to do to shorten and lessen the intensity of the panic attack.
Retraining an anxious brain is not easy but if you use what you've learned in these videos
over the next months or years you can raise your panic threshold and reduce the chances
of having panic attacks. If you carry on with safety behaviors and avoidance you
will continue to have lots of panic attacks and find your life very restricted by panic disorder.
Now some final tips. If you are on medication do not stop taking medication during this process.
Changes or interruptions in medication can make anxiety soar which will make this process even
more difficult. If you are able to reach a stage where the panic attacks have stopped
or are rare, only then talk to your doctor about tapering off medication. Also beware distractions.
You will see all sorts of pills, potions, diets, supplements and alternative therapies claiming
they can stop your panic attacks instantly. These are usually recommended by the people
selling them. I'm not saying that other approaches like diet or supplements will
not help some people but if there was an easy cure then no one would have panic attacks.
But if you look for evidence that CBT is effective in places like the National
Institutes of Health in America or the National Institute of Clinical Excellence in the UK,
you will find lots of independent scientific evidence that it has a very high success rate.
But there are two reasons why not everyone with anxiety is used in CBT. One is that many people
cannot afford a course of CBT and the waiting lists are long in countries with free health care.
Hopefully my video series will go some way to solving this problem. The second reason is that
CBT is hard. I've tried to give you all the advice I can about motivation and dealing with setbacks
but only you can make the changes that will reduce or eliminate your panic attacks.
So instead of wishing you luck, I'm going to wish you strength,
determination, patience and success in your CBT journey. Finally I have spent many hours
making these videos. My only motivation is helping people who need it so please give
my videos a like so you tube will show it to others who are struggling with panic attacks.