Get the Right Help to Feel Better – Call (650) 461-9026 or Text (650) 461-9026
“I was walking through the grocery store, when I suddenly began to feel like everything was closing in on me. My heart started racing, and I felt like I was going to fall off the face of the earth. I just had to get away. I left my cart behind and ran out to my car, where I laid down on the seat until the feeling passed. Since then, I’ve avoided the grocery store and other crowded public places. I just want to keep this from happening again.”
This description of a panic attack is a reality for too many people. Be proactive and seek help from a therapist trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
A panic attack is a short but intense feeling that overwhelms you with anxiety or dread. Symptoms that accompany the attack include blurred vision, shortness of breath, and/or dizziness. You may experience the urge to flee. You may even feel like you are dying or incredibly ill. The symptoms may mimic medical problems such as a heart attack or a stroke.
They can happen almost anywhere. For some people, a crowded place triggers the reaction. For others, driving on the freeway may trigger an attack. Exercising may be one person’s trigger and social situations may be another’s. Yet, as varied as these sources may be, CBT offers a time-limited, highly effective approach to breaking the grip of panic over your life no matter what triggers your attacks.
That first panic attack often leads to a heightened sensitivity to triggers. The fear of another episode may lead to more panic attacks. A serious and distressing condition, panic disorder may grip the sufferer. The 2.7% of Americans who develop panic disorder live life in a cycle of avoiding any situation that might lead to an attack. This leads to a life where activities are severely restricted. Self-worth spirals downward. The space that feels safe constricts.
Seeing a CBT-trained therapist after an initial panic attack can be extremely helpful. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) works by helping you identify the situations and bodily sensations surrounding your panic attacks. Your therapist helps you cut through the fog you feel as one of these attacks starts to sweep over you. The therapist helps demystify what is happening. CBT helps even those with entrenched panic disorder regain a normal life. A skilled CBT therapist will coach you through a series of exercises that actually help you understand and develop tolerance to the sensations that have been leading to your panic attacks. Your therapist will help you map a plan that claims a renewed life—enabling you to re-enter situations that you have been avoiding.
Stop panic from robbing you of your life! Contact us to schedule a personal assessment. Call us (650) 461-9026 or Text us (650) 461-9026 today to get started, or book an appointment online – Video Teletherapy available!
At Palo Alto Therapy, we specialize in helping you overcome all types of anxiety problems. We are knowledgeable, warm, and patient, creating tangible results with techniques that are based on evidence & research. Your relief can be achieved without long-term counseling.
Specializing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, we provide effective & caring counseling. Our therapists are passionate in delivering high-quality therapy & enhance their skills through the latest trainings.
Our relationship with you is valued & of highest importance. We are compassionate, respectful, & honest. Our professional counseling includes working side by side with you towards YOUR goals.
Our active therapists use tailored homework exercises to help you find relief in a timely manner. By keeping our meetings on track & targeting specific concerns we help you enjoy life again, usually in a matter of months not years.
Appointments after 5pm & Saturdays, friendly administrative staff & two locations: Palo Alto & San Jose. We help children, teens & adults, couples, & families and offer classes & therapy groups. Video therapy available!
I found the homework exercises to be very helpful to me. I’ve been able to use techniques I have learned from those exercises to slow down my thoughts when problems arise and work through whatever the issue may be, OCD or otherwise.
I liked the emphasis on doing concrete things to get results-writing down negative thoughts, trying to say things to counter those thoughts…Thank you for helping me make my life better.
Palo Alto Therapy does not just provide talk therapy, but focuses on teaching skills to maintain therapy. You have a genuine interest in the client’s well-being and you offered a new way of thinking about or means of addressing my issues.
