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With a little change in attitude, fears loose all their magnitude.
Symptoms of panic can be subdued and eliminated with knowledge about 
how your body responds to an adrenaline surge and with practice 
refocusing on something pleasant or floating past anxiety during episodes. 
However, recovery will not be complete until you have changed your 
attitude toward panic by revaluing it. In the following example, insecurity 
became an intoxicating experience:

One young man began imagining a beautiful peaceful place when he first 
started to feel his heart pound. He was surprised that this actually made 
him feel euphoric. Of course, as soon as he began looking forward to 
symptoms of anxiety so he could get “high,” he no longer had panic attacks. 
His recovery continued as long as he remembered that he could turn a 
frightening adrenaline rush into a pleasant experience.

With practice, anyone can minimize panic reactions and adopt a whole new 
viewpoint about them. The first step to changing your attitude is to identify 
the self-defeating thoughts you currently have about panic. Then, you can 
compute opposite, positive beliefs that will help you recover by revaluing 
your symptoms. Notice that the difference between destructive and helpful 
beliefs can be very subtle: 

Change Thoughts That Hurt into      . . .      Beliefs That Reduce Panic

I put up with symptoms of panic and hope they pass as soon as possible. Getting through one panic  attack without difficulty will  make the next one easier.  Once I’ve faced a situation  without panic, I no longer  need to practice it. Recovery means that I have  to face every situation that is  hard for me. A setback means that  everything I’ve tried in the  past does not work.

I welcome symptoms of panic reactions by floating or as as opportunities to retrain  reactions by floating or  refocusing. Getting through one panic  attack prepares me for any  future, more severe,  episodes. I give panic opportunities to  surface by facing situations  that used to be or still are  hard. I find new situations to  practice without having to  master everything that is hard for me. If I’ve desensitized myself to  triggers of panic in the past, I  can easily do it again!

The first statement in each pair stresses “success” and suggests that you 
have to try to prevent or avoid panic. The second statement shows that you 
have revalued anxious symptoms as opportunities to practice making peace 
with panic. When you have truly changed your outlook, you will not have a 
problem if panic returns after a period of being symptom-free. Therefore, it 
is very important to practice affirming Beliefs That Reduce Panic (above) 
until they are true for you.

SETBACKS

Although many people stop adding the second fear of panic after 
understanding what is happening to them, others have more difficulty 
retraining their reactions or find their symptoms return after a period of 
doing well. This can happen for several reasons:

• Success can be frightening. After a good period, people often think: 
  “I hope I never have to go through that again!” “I wonder if this will 
  last.” “Am I cured?” “What if I start having problems again?” Any of 
  these thoughts can invite panic!

• Success allows fewer opportunities to practice dealing with panic. 
  People can fall into old patterns of thinking scary thoughts or trying 
  to control symptoms.

• Coming back from a vacation or being in the hospital can cause 
  people to feel stressed by the demands of their daily routine. Brief 
  retraining may be necessary to again become desensitized to certain 
  situations. Even people without panic disorders often feel anxious on 
  Mondays or when coming home from vacations.

• Underlying emotional problems of depression, social phobia, 
  obsessing, and perfectionism that have not been addressed can 
  cause panic to return.

• Symptoms from undetected minor medical problems such as inner 
  ear dysfunction, allergies, PMS, low blood sugar, thyroid dysfunction, 
  anemia, high blood pressure, or mitral valve prolapse can trigger 
  anxiety after periods of doing well.

• Multiple factors contributing to problems with anxiety (sensitive 
  temperament, chronic illnesses, traumatic experiences, family or work 
  conflicts, perfectionistic or avoidant traits, depression, phobias, or 
  obsessions) will create many challenges to not add the second fear 
  of panic to stress.

• Relying solely on medication for recovery can cause symptoms to 
  return when drugs are discontinued. Although some use of 
  medication may be helpful, it is important to gradually replace 
  medication with behavioral techniques, such as refocusing on 
  pleasant activities and floating past anxiety to desensitize panic 
  reactions.

The return of panic is almost a necessary part of full recovery. You need to 
show yourself that you can deal with symptoms if they do return to lose the 
fear of problems recurring. Because you may reexperience panic from time 
to time, it is essential to adopt a final attitude that revalues any “setbacks” 
in your life.


Reference

See Jeffrey M. Schwartz’s “4-R’s of recovery” for OCD found in Brain Lock 
(HarperCollins, 1996).