Are Panic Attacks or Phobias Affecting the Quality of Your Life?
Do you have an extreme fear you can’t control? Does your panic interfere with your everyday living? Are you worried that you may experience another panic attack or afraid of going places because you may have a panic attack?
Panic attacks can affect anybody and everybody, even the calmest of people. Panic attacks are abrupt surges of distress hormones, often feeling randomly triggered. Suddenly, your heart starts to race, you break out into a sweat, you can barely breathe, your hands are trembling, and you feel dizzy. Panic attacks strike fear and can paralyze even the bravest of people, including soldiers, firemen, and police officers. Panic Attacks can strike at any time, you may be at a birthday party and then you may start to feel like you’re having a heart attack, or perhaps you are thrust awake in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat and panting like you just sprinted from danger. Panic attacks can also occur along with a variety of different medical disorders such as cardiac issues, respiratory or breathing problems like COPD, and gastrointestinal disorders. Panic attacks can make people feel like they are dying, and there’s no escape. The truth is that there is an escape. Fortunately, just like many other biological affliction, panic attacks can be improved, even healed. The clinicians at Comforts of Home Counseling know that you are struggling and can provide treatment to help you bring those episodes of panic back under control, so you in turn can feel back in control.
Your fears can cause you pain. A phobia is an extreme fear and avoidance of a situation or object. The fear can be paralyzing. When confronted with one of these fears, you try to choose between fight and flight, but often all you can do is freeze, thus intensifying your fear and avoidance. The amount of fear you may experience can vary based on how close you are to the object that you fear. In some cases, the anticipation of coming into contact with that object or situation may be enough to trigger you. Some people feel like they will die if they get close to an elevator, or if a spider is on their arm. The fear or anxiety associated with a phobia may mimic symptoms of a full or limited panic attack. There are generally one of two results for people who struggle with phobias, they either avoid the object or situation or they endure it with great difficulty, dread and anxiety. Through proven therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy, Comforts of Home Counseling can guide you to a sense of peace and help you gain your control over your fears, panic and worries instead of them controlling you.