i've recently been dating my girlfriend
for 4 months and she's a great girl!
However, since i've met her she's told me
that she's prone to panic attacks.
Sometimes she worries over the most
improbable things and just thinking about
them over and over again in her mind makes
her go into panic attacks sometime.
I've never been in the presence of them
until once whilst in bed. She was worried
about being pregnant (but it was so
exaggerated cos we've not done anything to
even make her possible of being pregnant,
it was just the thought of it) and she
started to uncontrollably shake.
She said her attacks present themselves
differently and that she's had them since
she was 18 during stressful exam periods
when they were worse. She's gone to see a
counsellor but hasn't since they've been
"better" after those exam periods.
I guess what i'm asking is more
information of how panic attacks and
anxiety work? I don't want to live in
ignorance so if anyone here who suffers
from them can give me an insight that'd be
really helpful. I mean, she just worries
so much and i keep telling her stop
worrying and tell her how she's being
unrealistic and she knows, but she can't
stop worrying!
What can i do to help?
|
johnR
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 229
Posted: 07-13-07 12:32pm
Telling her she needs to stop worrying is
right, but the problem is worrying is a
bad habit for her that is ingrained and
she now needs to learn how not to worry.
Get her to start doing the thought
countering exercises taught in cbt. Cbt is
great for panic anxiety and depression but
you have to do the exercises everyday so
it does take a lot of work and self
discipline. I still do the tea form
exercise that I learned in the book by sam
obitz daily and the thought processes that
eliminate panic and anxiety do become
ingrained over time. The sooner she gets
started on these the better.
|
Radiate
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 7
Posted: 07-14-07 11:54am
Thanks, but what exactly are Thought
Countering Exercises? And what other
exercises from CBT are good?
|
johnR
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 229
Posted: 08-01-07 18:21pm
Hi Radiate and sorry for the late reply. I
didn't get a reply notification and have
not signed on here recently. Anyway to
answer your questions there are ten common
thinking errors that cause anxiety and cbt
teaches you how to catch these errors and
counter them in a tea form with more
realistic thinking and retrain your brain
to stop overreacting to things and thus
eliminate the panic and anxiety. There's
also a cbt exercise where you put things
back into perspective which is quite
helpful and some exposure techniques for
instances that tend to be perceived as the
cause of panic attacks. In addition there
are some breathing and mediating exercises
that can be helpful also. Let me know if
you have any more questions?
|
CaroleK
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Posts: 2 Location: London
Panic Attacks Posted: 08-11-07 02:53am
I suffered from panic attacks 2 years ago
after leaving a very stressful job. One
night I was lying on the sofa watching TV
and felt myself go faint. Thought I just
imagined it and then it started again. I
called my husband and went straight to a
window to have fresh air.
I could hardly breathe and had to struggle
not to faint. I was white as a ghost and
seeing the fright in my husband's eyes
made it worse. I had a pain in the heart
area so I thought I was having a heart
attack.
My husband called the emergency for me but
they wouldn't come because I hadn't
fainted.
I was scared so went straight to hospital
where they did a few tests : heart, urine
sample....
They couldn't find anything and said it
was probably due to stress.
Because I did not trust that everything
was OK every evening at the same time, I
would suffer from a panic attack. I could
not stay up past 9pm.
I went on holidays to Turkey, still with
the symptoms and one day it became quite
bad so I went to hospital there : they did
a lot more tests and same conclusion :
everything was OK just panic attacks. They
gave me medicine and because I trusted
them the symptoms went away.
Recently, I have had a lot of health
problem and the inefficiency of my GP and
the time it takes to get results has put a
strain on me again and I had a panic
attack 2 nights ago.
It is all in the head : if you are
stressed and think negative you are more
prone to panic attacks.
Carole
|
Radiate
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 7
Posted: 08-11-07 08:18am
johnR
wrote:
Hi Radiate and sorry for the
late reply. I didn't get a reply
notification and have not signed on here
recently. Anyway to answer your questions
there are ten common thinking errors that
cause anxiety and cbt teaches you how to
catch these errors and counter them in a
tea form with more realistic thinking and
retrain your brain to stop overreacting to
things and thus eliminate the panic and
anxiety. There's also a cbt exercise where
you put things back into perspective which
is quite helpful and some exposure
techniques for instances that tend to be
perceived as the cause of panic attacks.
In addition there are some breathing and
mediating exercises that can be helpful
also. Let me know if you have any more
questions?
No worries, i appreciate the help! This
CBT sounds really great, are there any
books out there that might give more
information about them or any information
about what CBT entails so i can pass them
onto my girlfriend?
|
sarahlynn7
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Posts: 2 Location: California
Posted: 08-11-07 23:00pm
Hi Radiate,
I have experienced panic attacks within
the past couple of months and I have some
suggestions that have helped me out a lot.
1) Be as supportive to her as possible...
Reassure her that everything is ok and
that there is nothing to worry about.
Panic attacks are very scary to go
through, but they cannot hurt you. 2) If
she starts feeling panicked, tell her to
take slow deep breaths, breathing in
through the nose and out through the
mouth. This will help her to concentrate
on something else besides the anxiety that
she is feeling. 3) Tell her to try to take
time out of each day to relax… Taking a
hot bath or getting a back massage is very
relaxing and relieves stress. 4) Try to
get her to eat healthy and take a
multi-vitamin. My therapist told me that
when people feel stressed, they eat
comfort food or junk food instead of
eating healthy, which can make you feel
even worse. She also said that you tend to
go through a lot of vitamin B when you are
stressed. 5) Take a walk together or do
some exercise. This will help clear her
mind and make her feel better about
herself. 6) Pick up some books on stress
and anxiety... I bought The Relaxation
& Stress Reduction Workbook (Fifth
Edition) and When Panic Attacks. They
both seem to be very helpful! 7) If
nothing above works, she may want to
contact a Therapist (like I did) that
specializes in stress and anxiety.
Knowing that there is someone available to
talk to (besides family and friends) that
can give you suggestions on controlling
the anxiety is very comforting! They may
also recommend that she see a Psychiatrist
who can prescribe some anxiety
medication.
Hope these suggestions help!
-Sarah
|
colette_ mossberger
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 7 Location: illinois
I Also Have Them Posted: 08-14-07 19:51pm
i try not to worry my boyfriend to much
with them when they happen i go in the
other room so he doesn't freak out he has
never seen me have one the last one i had
everything went white and i almost passed
out please just stick by her and comfprt
her as much as possible. the more you help
her not to worry the less she will have
them take it from a girl with the same
thing. i to am going to talk to a
conculoer and i think they are getting
better
|
johnR
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 229
Posted: 08-24-07 16:25pm
Radiate
wrote:
johnR
wrote:
Hi Radiate and sorry for the
late reply. I didn't get a reply
notification and have not signed on here
recently. Anyway to answer your questions
there are ten common thinking errors that
cause anxiety and cbt teaches you how to
catch these errors and counter them in a
tea form with more realistic thinking and
retrain your brain to stop overreacting to
things and thus eliminate the panic and
anxiety. There's also a cbt exercise where
you put things back into perspective which
is quite helpful and some exposure
techniques for instances that tend to be
perceived as the cause of panic attacks.
In addition there are some breathing and
mediating exercises that can be helpful
also. Let me know if you have any more
questions?
No worries, i appreciate the help! This
CBT sounds really great, are there any
books out there that might give more
information about them or any information
about what CBT entails so i can pass them
onto my
girlfriend?
Hi Radiate, This time I have no excuse for
being so late in replying other than being
really busy and not signing on here since
my last post to you. The book I always
recommend to start with is the one we used
in my group. It is short and straight
forward it's called Been there, done that?
Do This! By sam obitz. There's a link
where you can read the forward to the book
on the website www.Tao3.Com under
about the about the book. I hope this is
helpful to your girl and let me know if
you have any more questions?
