Frequently Asked Questions
What is panic disorder?
In the United States alone, close to 3% of the population meets the clinical definition for panic, and it is generally agreed that these numbers are relatively consistent with other countries who maintain scientific data. This means that, in any given year, roughly 10 million Americans are suffering from panic and anxiety.
More women than men report having panic disorder, but it’s believed that the number of men with panic disorder is under-reported. This is a high proportion of the population that has either chosen to live with this horrible disorder or to take pills to blunt its effects, neither of which is a very satisfying choice. Panic disorder is not endemic to the U.S. It is a worldwide, culturally inclusive disorder.
A panic attack can only be described as a comprehensive emotional nightmare. A panic attack typically lasts several long minutes and is one of the most distressing conditions a person can experience. Some panic sufferers feel like they are in an escalating cycle of catastrophe and doom. Others feel as if they are having a heart attack. Others feel they are losing control and may go crazy. The greatest fear is that the panic attack will come back again, tearing the individual down even further and making life too miserable to bear.
To learn more:
What is Panic?
What Causes Panic Attacks?
How do I know if I have panic disorder?
Go to:
https://www.anxietynetwork.com/panic
Read the articles on panic disorder. If you suffer from panic and anxiety, it’s likely that you will strongly identify with the information provided there.
Click here to use our self-test tool.
This tool will not give you an official diagnosis, but it may allow you to consider different aspects of panic.
Common symptoms of panic include
- a racing or pounding heartbeat
- dizziness and light-headedness
- a feeling that “I can’t catch my breath”
- chest pains or a “heaviness” in the chest
- bodily flushes or chills
- tingling in the hands, feet, legs, and arms
- jumpiness, trembling, twitching muscles
- sweaty palms, flushed face
- a feeling of terror
- a fear of losing control
- fear of a stroke that will lead to disability
- a fear of dying
- a fear of going crazy
- an inability to sleep because of thinking about all these horrors
- nightmares that focus on fears associated with panic
- worry and frustration about having another panic attack
The good news is that panic is not only treatable, but the treatment is also successful. Panic no longer needs to be a life-long, devastating condition.
Can anyone overcome panic?
Panic disorder can be overcome, although it takes both motivation and persistence on the patient’s part. But, barring cognitive problems (e.g., dementia, Alzheimer's Disease) everyone can make progress against panic and anxiety using the appropriate type of cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Systematically going through an appropriate cognitive-behavioral program, like "Overcoming Panic and Anxiety" allows your brain to change and develop new habits, if you stick with it every day and reinforce the strategies until each strategy becomes an automatic habit.
What is the Social Anxiety Institute / the Anxiety Network?
The Social Anxiety Institute is the foremost institution in the world for treating social anxiety. The Institute Director, Dr. Thomas A. Richards, has specialized in panic and social anxiety since the early 1990s and the Social Anxiety Institute has had many thousands of patients.
The Anxiety Network is our online presence, detailing our work for people suffering from panic disorder and giving added information to other anxiety disorder people.
Who is Dr. Thomas A. Richards?
Dr. Thomas A. Richards is a psychologist and director of the Social Anxiety Institute. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from Arizona State University. He is now in his twenty-fifth year of helping people overcome panic and social anxiety disorder.
Dr. Richards suffered from social anxiety himself until he was about 40. He has seen people from all over the world and had the opportunity to work with them directly, individually and through panic and social anxiety CBT groups.
What is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a combination or a "pulling together" of any and all methods, strategies, and techniques that work to help people successfully overcome their particular emotional problems.
The cognitive part of the therapy refers to thinking or learning and is the part of therapy that can be "taught" to the person. The person then needs to take what has been taught, practice it at home, and through means of repetition, get that new "learning" down into the brain over and over again so that is becomes automatic or habitual.
The behavioral component of CBT involves implementing or “doing” things in your life. By moving forward in this manner, step by step, and through the use of repetition, the anxiety felt in situations is gradually reduced.
Why is CBT recommended for treating panic and anxiety?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been the only type of therapy to prove effective in permanently alleviating anxiety disorders and depression.
CBT is generally credited to Drs. Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, who worked independently and challenged prevalent Freudian psychoanalytic theory in the 1950's for the majority of people with mental health problems.
The massive body of research we have today on panic, beginning in the 1990s, was supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health.
Large-scale, long-range (i.e., longitudinal) studies over the past decade have consistently shown cognitive – behavioral therapy to be the only therapy that can be dependably relied upon to help people overcome clinical anxiety disorders.
The treatment programs at the Anxiety Network / the Social Anxiety Institute all use cognitive-behavioral therapy, because this has been shown by countless journal articles to be the therapy of choice. The clinic uses active, structured cognitive-behavioral therapy with an emphasis on acceptance, peace, and calmness.
Overcoming panic and anxiety involves using paradoxical techniques, so the therapy is counterintuitive in nature. This explains why people do not get over panic disorder on their own. Anxiety goes away as we learn to respond to it with our positive emotions, such as calmness, peace, humor, relaxation, and acceptance. Anxiety is made worse by our negative emotions, such as frustration, fear, depression, agitation, and irritation. We learn in the therapy series never to get angry with anxiety, because anger makes our anxiety stronger and only feeds and fuels the fire.
If we are discussing what will work in helping us overcome panic, then there is no process other than learning what is rational and then acting on it – thus, cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Why do you call your program “comprehensive” cognitive-behavioral therapy?
At The Anxiety Network, we call cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder "comprehensive" cognitive-behavioral therapy, to differentiate it from the general idea that cognitive concepts are simplistic and can be addressed by using only a few strategies and doing only a few things.
A successful therapy program for panic disorder must address many cognitive methods, strategies, and concepts that will allow people's brains (i.e., their brain associations or neural pathways) to literally change. The brain is continually learning, and irrational thoughts and beliefs can change as a result of this cognitive process.
A good therapy program will supply the necessary and specific strategies as well as indicate to people how and why they need to practice, work on, and begin to accept rational thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and perceptions.
I’ve tried CBT before, and it didn’t work.
For the successful treatment of anxiety, therapy must be thorough and comprehensive. Reinforcement must be continuous, and the person must be motivated to stick to a thirty-minute a day practice routine.
This course of action is not the path of least resistance for either the therapist or the patient. However, it is the best way we know to overcome social anxiety disorder.
I receive dozens of e-mails and other correspondence each day, with one of the recurring themes being, "I went through cognitive-behavioral therapy and I didn't get any better. What’s wrong?"
The answer to this question is another question: "Did you receive appropriate, comprehensive therapy, and were the components of the therapy "reinforced together" in your mind by your therapist?
The cognitive-behavioral therapy we do for panic does not contain the same information or proceed in the same manner as cognitive-behavioral therapy for other mental health care problems.
For example, CBT for depression is very different in nature than CBT for panic. Because the problem is different, CBT for panic contains different methods and strategies than CBT for depression, and the order of topics and strategies covered will be different depending on the anxiety disorder. Thus, cognitive-behavioral therapy, while always being active, structured, and solution-focused, must employ different ways of overcoming the particular emotional problem in question.
CBT is not a "set of methods" that work for all disorders. There are not simply two, three, or four strategies that work to help everyone with all kinds of mental health care problems.
The specifics or details of CBT are not universally applicable. This has been a thorny issue for professionals who do not really understand what cognitive-behavioral therapy involves.
When specific cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic is not understood or put into place, then people with panic disorder will not receive the complete help and assistance they need to overcome this debilitating anxiety disorder.
Because each mental health care problem is different, and because people with panic disorder respond to different CBT methods, strategies, and approaches, the professional should be cognizant of how to lead, guide, and help people with panic overcome this specific anxiety disorder.
Do not be discouraged. Nearly every person who comes to the Anxiety Clinic and the Social Anxiety Institute has a personal experience with trying other therapies, seeing other therapists, or being involved with another CBT group for anxiety – all to no avail. Often the person is left with the feeling that it is their fault that they didn’t get better or that, perhaps, they just can’t overcome anxiety. It’s not your fault that previous programs or therapists didn’t understand your anxiety clearly enough to help you.
“Overcoming Panic and Anxiety” is a comprehensive program specifically designed to help you overcome this anxiety disorder. With the right help, with a program that understands how to gradually and effectively change your thoughts and behaviors, you can overcome panic disorder.
Are there other recommended therapies for treating panic disorder?
Many adjunct and pseudo-therapies exist. Some may be helpful as additions to CBT, and others are get-rich-quick schemes. Relaxation methods, some forms of hypnotherapy, massage, meditation, and acupuncture have been shown to be helpful sometimes in relieving symptoms of anxiety. They are only adjuncts, however, as they do not help people to make permanent progress against clinical anxiety disorders. Appropriate medications are sometimes helpful too, but they only temporarily address the problem.
Only a change in the brain's neural pathways (this is what "learning" is) can cause permanent changes to occur so that we can change irrational thinking into rational thinking and then act on it. This is the heart of cognitive and behavior therapy.
I’ve heard that mindfulness is recommended for anxiety disorders.
Many therapeutic methods have been studied, but cognitive-behavioral techniques have been shown to work the best. In fact, treatment of anxiety through these cognitive-behavioral methods produces long-lasting, permanent relief from the anxiety-laden world of panic.
Don't let semantics and terminology about therapy throw you off. While it is correct and best to say we use "cognitive-behavioral" therapy, this includes a mindfulness approach to overcoming it, and it most definitely includes an acceptance of things as we continue to get better.
A successful therapy program for panic must address the many cognitive methods, strategies, and concepts that will allow people's brains (i.e., their brain associations or neural pathways) to literally change. The brain is continually learning, and irrational thoughts and beliefs can change as a result of this cognitive process.
A good therapy program will supply the necessary and specific strategies as well as indicate to people how and why they need to practice, work on, and begin to accept rational thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and perceptions.
How long will it take me to overcome panic disorder?
This answer will vary from person to person. We all want to overcome this disorder, but it is important to keep in mind that a pressuring expectation to recover too quickly will not help you. Pressure may, in fact, throw your progress off track. The reality for all of us is that our brains need time to learn this rational therapy. This is a gradual process, one which cannot happen overnight.
The most important elements in overcoming panic and anxiety:
1. An understanding and awareness of the problem
2. A commitment to carry through with cognitive-behavioral therapy even when it is repetitious and seems difficult
3. Practice, practice, practice to get that information (i.e., cognitive methods, strategies, and concepts) deep down into your brain - so that these cognitive methods become automatic habits.
Every person will be starting from a different point in terms of the level of severity of their panic and anxiety. Your progress is contingent upon your effort and consistency with the daily therapy. For all of us, the good news is that as long as we stick with the therapy and do not stop, we will see gradual improvement over time, until we overcome panic and anxiety altogether.
“Overcoming panic disorder” means that you no longer meet the criteria for the disorder as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM-5), the diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association. These criteria can be found on our website or on the APA site.
Is the therapy hard to do?
The therapy is not difficult to do. We clearly lay out what is to be done, and how it is to be done, day by day in each session. The difficulty for some may be in sticking with a new habit of daily therapy time. If you can stick with this habit, then you have overcome the “hardest” part of the therapy.
To make permanent progress against panic, all you need to do is take one proactive, forward step at a time. There is no need to do anything more.
Always act and move forward -- but do it by taking one step at a time with the therapy as outlined.
Daily repetition holds great power. It is this repetition that allows us to overcome panic and anxiety permanently, and these small efforts add up more quickly than you may realize.
What does “doing therapy” mean?
Doing therapy is essentially a daily habit of review and study time. This is explained clearly in session 1 which is provided entirely free for you to preview before purchasing the program. You can listen to the audio recordings by Dr. Richards and read and review the therapy handouts pertaining to that session.
Refer to the supplemental handouts available in session 1, “What is Therapy” and “How to Do Therapy”, for more information.
How do I use this therapy series?
Preview session 1 for free to understand clearly how you will use this therapy series. Each session has a handout entitled “What to Do This Week”.
Should I see a therapist, do this program, or both?
This program is designed as if you were coming personally to see Dr. Richards for 15 sessions of therapy. Thus, there is no reason why you must see a therapist to use this program.
For some, seeing a therapist may motivate you to keep up with the therapy. You may use this program and see a therapist.
If you choose to see a therapist rather than this structured program, ask your therapist what daily structure he/she will provide. It is the daily habit of therapy, not a weekly visit of 45 minutes, that will effectively get you over panic disorder.
Will this program help me with depression?
Depression is a very common result of a life stifled by panic disorder. One may have clinical depression separate and apart from panic disorder. However, it is often the case that feelings of depression are a result of panic. Thus, when we learn to overcome panic disorder, we are also reducing and eliminating the depression that results from it.
What if I am dealing with other anxiety disorders simultaneously?
Can I skip ahead to the sessions which are more relevant to me?
No. Not if you want to achieve the best results.
The quickest and most effective way to overcome panic is to follow the therapy series in order.
I’ve tried other things. Why should I trust this program?
We want you to overcome panic disorder as soon as you can, so you can live a "normal", anxiety-free life.
These are not merely empty words. We know how to help people get over panic disorder. It is not rocket science anymore.
This therapy program is the result of helping people overcome panic and anxiety over the past 25 years.
When does this program start and finish?
You may start the therapy program today, as soon as you sign up. There are 15 sessions in total. In general, we advise spending one week per session. To fully overcome panic disorder, you may need to review the therapy. The repetition and review of the program will reinforce your progress.
How long do I have access to the therapy?
With the 1-time payment purchase of the therapy program, you have immediate lifetime access to the therapy and all future updates. With the monthly payment plan of 3 monthly payments, you will get lifetime access upon the successful completion of the three payments.
Is the program mobile / tablet friendly?
Yes. Access the therapy program sessions via your desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone.
What if I am not satisfied with the therapy?
We want you to feel that this program is right for you. We also want you to be ready to start therapy. For that reason we are offering session 1 of “Overcoming Panic and Anxiety” completely free for you to try before purchasing the program. Take advantage of previewing session 1 so that you can make your decision. Once purchased, the therapy program is non-refundable. Review our
Refund Policy.