Don't Panic, Chapter 7. The Anatomy of Panic Chapter 8. Who's in Control? Chapter 9. Why the Body Reacts

Most people who experience panic attacks would describe themselves as feeling instantly out of control during panic. They primarily complain about losing control of their body: all of a sudden, physical symptoms come rushing into their awareness, and they feel overwhelmed.

Although panic seems to occur instantaneously, in actuality there are a number of events that tend to take place within our mind and body leading up to panic. If we could magically slow down this physical and mental process, we would typically find that a person's anxiety involves a number of stages. The tricky part is that some or all of these stages can take place outside your conscious awareness. And they can all take place in a matter of seconds. That's why panic can feel like such a surprise: we are not consciously aware of the stages we go through prior to a panic attack.

Several of these stages also serve to instruct the body on how to respond. For instance, let me explain to you one possible way stage one -- Anticipatory Anxiety -- could unfold. The panic cycle begins as you consider approaching a feared situation. Quickly your mind recalls your past failures to handle similar situations. In the last example, Donna, while sitting at home, considered entering a grocery store. That thought reminded her of how she had experienced panic attacks previously in grocery stores.

Here is the first of four important pieces of information. When we become mentally involved with a past event, our body tends to respond to that experience as though the event were happening RIGHT NOW. All of us have had this experience. For instance, you might flip through the pages of your wedding album and begin to feel some of the same excitement and joy you felt that day. Or perhaps on another day someone mentions the death of a person he was close to. You are reminded of the death of someone you love, and you begin to feel sad again. Similarly, as Donna recalls her last panic episode, she unconsciously retrieves the feelings of that day as though it were today: anxiety.

So, first we contemplate facing our feared situation. That reminds us of our past failures. Since we are now recalling that we handle such situations poorly, we next begin to question our coping abilities. "Can I really handle this? What if I panic again?" These kinds of questions send a special message to the body.

And here is a second important piece of information. Unconsciously we answer these rhetorical questions: "No, based on my past performance I don't think I can handle it. If I panic I will totally lose control." These unconscious statements give this instruction to the body: "guard against the worst possible outcome."

Simultaneously we can mentally visualize ourselves failing to cope with the situation, even though we may not consciously "see" the image. In our example, Donna pulls up to the store and imagines what it might be like if she "lost control." Later, while filling her cart, she imagines how long it might take to go through the checkout line. And each time, her body responded to that image.

Here is the third important piece of information. Just as our body responds to memories of the past, it will respond to images of the future as though the future were occurring now. If our image is of ourselves coping poorly, the mind instructs the body to "protect against failure."

What about the body? Exactly how does it respond to these messages?

Our bodies have been trained for millions of years to respond to emergencies. Ours is a finely honed response that answers with a moment's notice to the instruction, "This is an emergency." It responds the same way every time to any event that the mind calls an emergency.

Here is the fourth important piece of information in this step. Within the panic cycle, it is not the body that responds incorrectly. The body responds perfectly to an exaggerated message from the mind. It is not the body that needs fixing, it is our thoughts, our images, our negative interpretation of our experiences that we must correct in order to gain control of panic. If we never told ourselves, in essence, "I'll lose control in that situation," then we would not be flipping on that unconscious emergency switch so often.

In summary, here is the unconscious communication taking place between the mind and the body during the anticipatory anxiety stage. The mind considers approaching a feared situation. That thought process stimulates a memory of a past difficulty. At the moment the mind creates an image of that old trauma, it simultaneously instructs the physical body to "respond as though past difficulties are occurring NOW." Using this information about the past, the mind now begins to question your ability to cope with this event. ("Can I handle this?") These questions lead to an instant instruction to the body: "Guard against any of these worst possible outcomes." Moments later the mind conjures up pictures of you failing to handle the upcoming event (consider them brief glimpses that don't register in your conscious mind). A strong message is sent to the body: "Protect against failure!"