Panic Attack Therapy in the West Valley

Is this you?

• Your heart raced, your chest tightened, you could not get a full breath, and you were sure something was badly wrong.
• You went to urgent care or the emergency room and everything came back normal.
• Now you are watching your body all the time, waiting for the next one.
• You have started avoiding places where it happened, or places where you could not get out fast.
• You are tired from being braced.

What a panic attack is

A panic attack is your body’s emergency system going off with nothing to respond to. Your brain sends the signal it would send if you were in real danger, and your body does what it is built to do. Adrenaline goes up. Your heart speeds up to move blood to your muscles. You breathe faster to take in oxygen. Your muscles tense. Your digestion slows, which is the nausea. The fast breathing lowers the carbon dioxide in your blood, which causes the tingling and the strange, far-away feeling.

Every one of those sensations is your body working correctly. That is why the emergency room found nothing. There was nothing to find. The frightening part is that the alarm went off without a fire, and your brain then decided the sensations themselves were the danger.

That second step is the whole problem, and it is the part therapy fixes.

Why it keeps happening

After a first attack, most people start scanning their body for the beginning of the next one. A slightly fast heartbeat after climbing stairs becomes “it is starting.” The fear itself raises the heart rate, which confirms the fear, which raises it more. Within a minute or two you are in a full attack that was set off by noticing your own pulse.

Then avoidance creeps in. You skip the freeway, the grocery store, the meeting, the long drive to Phoenix. Each thing you avoid feels like relief and teaches your brain that the place was dangerous. Your life gets smaller, and the panic gets a bigger share of it.

How I work with panic

The main approach is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which works on how your thoughts about a sensation shape your reaction to it. For panic, it has three parts.

Understanding the alarm. We go through what is actually happening in your body, in more detail than this page, until the sensations stop being a mystery. People often feel a first layer of relief just from this.

Retraining the fear of sensations. This is the part that makes panic treatment different from general anxiety work. In a controlled way, with your agreement and at your pace, we practice bringing on mild versions of the sensations, such as breathing quickly for a short stretch or standing up fast, so your brain learns through experience that a racing heart is uncomfortable and safe. It sounds unpleasant. In practice it is short and planned, and it is often where people start to feel real change.

Taking your life back. We make a list of what you have been avoiding and work back through it, starting with the easiest. Each one you reclaim teaches your brain the opposite of what avoidance taught it.

For the moments when an attack is starting and you need something right then, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has skills built for exactly that. Several of them use cold water or intense physical sensation to interrupt the spiral. We practice them in session so they are there when you need them.

Where and when

The office is in Goodyear on Litchfield Road, near the I-10, and I am there Wednesday through Friday in the afternoons and evenings. Avondale, Litchfield Park, Buckeye, and Surprise are all a short drive away. Video sessions are available statewide from Tuesday to Friday, and panic work goes well on video. If you have been avoiding the freeway since the attack, starting by video means the drive is not the first hurdle.

Fees and insurance

Sessions are 50–55 minutes and cost $100 without insurance. I am in-network with Aetna/Banner, Cigna, Curative, and United Healthcare, and I take Cigna and United Healthcare employee assistance program (EAP) sessions, which are the free sessions some employers cover. The full details are on the insurance and fees page, and if your plan is not listed, ask me on the free call and I will tell you what your options are.

Questions people ask