Managing Your Anxiety

online conference transcript

David Carbonell, Ph.D., our guest, talks about managing your anxiety and panic. We discussed anxiety disorders and panic attacks, how to respond to a panic attack, recovering from a panic attack and using diaphragmatic breathing, anti-anxiety medications, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and progressive exposure used in anxiety treatment.

Audience members shared their ideas for controlling panic and treatments for anxiety including anxiety support groups, helpful books on anxiety, self help tapes for anxiety and video programs to overcome panic attacks.

David Roberts: HealthyPlace.com moderator.

The people in blue are audience members.

David: Good Evening. I'm David Roberts. I'm the moderator for tonight's conference. I want to welcome everyone to HealthyPlace.com. Our topic tonight is "Managing Your Anxiety." Our guest is psychologist, Dr. David Carbonell. He is Director of Chicago's Anxiety Treatment Center and conducts seminars and workshops for a variety of professional groups. Dr. Carbonell also makes frequent presentations on anxiety.

Good evening, Dr. Carbonell and welcome to HealthyPlace.com. We appreciate you being our guest tonight. Many of the people who visit HealthyPlace.com feel pretty hopeless and pessimistic about recovering from anxiety and panic. I'm wondering what you would say to them.

Dr. Carbonell: I'd like to tell them that these disorders, anxiety disorders, are both common and treatable. A good recovery is attainable!

David: You make it sound relatively easy. Yet, for many, it's very difficult? Why is that?

Dr. Carbonell: A number of reasons. As your questions indicated, it's easy to become depressed about these anxiety conditions. It's also true that following common sense instincts often doesn't help. There are tricks to getting over these problems. And so I see many people who, in other areas of their lives can solve all kinds of problems, have a lot of trouble with these.

David: When you use the term, "good recovery," what do you mean by that, exactly?

Dr. Carbonell: In the case of panic disorder, I mean a person can get to the point of no longer fearing a panic attack. And when you get to that point, they tend to fade away. So you can live your life without that shadow.

David: A moment ago, you mentioned "tricks" to getting over these problems of panic and anxiety. What were you referring to, specifically?

Dr. Carbonell: The tricks to working with panic all relate to this:

People's gut instincts about how to respond to a panic attack are almost always exactly wrong, the opposite of what will help.

And so, people will hold their breath during a panic attack; will stand rooted to the ground; will flee. All these responses, unfortunately, make it worse. And so a fundamental trick of a panic attack is learning how to respond differently. It requires:

ACCEPTING the panic, and working with it, rather than opposing it.

David: We have one audience member who agrees with you on the reaction to a panic attack:

sher36: I always feel like running.

Dr. Carbonell: Yes, exactly. And you can come to rely on running. But it just invites the panic back, again and again.

David: Does it take therapy and/or anti-anxiety medications to recover from panic and anxiety, or can one do it on their own?

Dr. Carbonell: I think most, not all, people will require some kind of professional help, although I know some can do it with a good anxiety support group. I think the majority of people can make a good recovery, without anti-anxiety medications, if they find a good source for cognitive behavioral therapy, using progressive exposure. And some, though far fewer than actually use them, will require medications.

David: Here are a couple of audience comments, then we'll continue:

aml782: I went to a support group for about a year and it was a big help.

CorwinPon: I have only actually run once. Normally, my legs bounce.

sher36: Nothing has helped me thus far.