{"id":279,"date":"2015-06-21T14:49:27","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T14:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/?page_id=279"},"modified":"2018-08-30T19:56:23","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T19:56:23","slug":"treating-anxiety-attacks-agoraphobia-exposure-therapy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/treating-anxiety-attacks-agoraphobia-exposure-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Treating Anxiety Attacks &#038; Agoraphobia Exposure Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Speed Sense for AdSense WordPress Plugin: https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/speed-sense\/ -->\n<div id=\"ssp0\" style=\"float:left;margin:10px 10px 10px 0;max-width:970px;width:100%;\">\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" id=\"adsgoogle0\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 100%; height: 250px\"  data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5877597362749779\" data-ad-slot=\"2816458245\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>We present some interesting information about whether exposure therapy works for anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia that you will probably want to check out.\u00a0 There are a number of mental health professionals who use this technique.<\/p>\n<div class=\"AW-Form-341207382\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">(function(d, s, id) {\n    var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n    if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n    js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n    js.src = \"\/\/forms.aweber.com\/form\/82\/341207382.js\";\n    fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, \"script\", \"aweber-wjs-c0ty2hg9p\"));\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HDAKI2LsEFQ\" width=\"660\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Before delving right\u00a0into treating anxiety attacks and agoraphobia, one must ask the question: what is a good way to think about agoraphobia?<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/agoraphobia\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20355987\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mayo Clinic&#8217;s website<\/a> indicates that Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you avoid situations that you&#8217;re afraid might cause you to panic.<br \/>\nYou might avoid being alone, leaving your home or any situation where you could feel trapped, embarrassed or helpless if you do panic.<\/p>\n<p>Simply put, though, agoraphobia is fear of fear.\u00a0 In other words, people who suffer from agoraphobia are scared of being scared.\u00a0 People suffering from agoraphobia and panic attacks will avoid doing things that cause them fear.<\/p>\n<p>If for example you fear going to the mall, then you\u2019ll likely get into the habit of avoiding the mall.\u00a0 This fear usually spreads to other situations.\u00a0 You might start by avoiding other things and staying at home.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is where the power of exposure therapy as a treatment for anxiety, panic disorder &amp; agoraphobia comes in\u2026.<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nAs a sufferer of agoraphobia and anxiety attacks you might be surprised to learn that being placed in a scary situation can actually be helpful in resolving your agoraphobia and panic attacks. Even though your typical reaction is to avoid such situations.<\/p>\n<p>Exposure therapy for agoraphobia and panic attacks anxiety is a form of <a href=\"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-anxiety\/\">cognitive behavioral therapy<\/a> that allows you to go into a situation, that normally, just thinking about, would cause you to feel anxious and fearful.<\/p>\n<p>Exposure therapy for agoraphobia is done within the confines of a controlled setting. In other words, normally the therapist will be present while the anxiety sufferer goes into this situation.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at an example of exposure therapy for anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>As a sufferer of agoraphobia and panic attacks, referring to the above example, the mere thought of going to the mall makes you incredibly anxious, your palms sweat, and your heart races really fast.<\/p>\n<p>You continually tell yourself that you\u2019re unable to go to the mall. This is because you are scared of the consequences of doing so.\u00a0 For example some people fear that they might get so scared or mixed up that they will go crazy, lose their mind, or simply do something very embarrassing and everyone will look down on them.<\/p>\n<p>What a therapist does during exposure therapy is gradually expose you to your fears.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, the therapist might start you off by just having you get in your car and drive to the mall.\u00a0 But he\/she might only get you to drive to the parking lot and then go back home.<br \/>\nThe next time, you might go into the mall briefly.<br \/>\nThe next time you might stay a little longer, and so on.<br \/>\nThis continues until you can face your fears. Being exposed to these \u201cfearful\u201d situations slowly over time allows you to confront your fears instead of being controlled by them.\u00a0\u00a0 This is referred to as systematic desensitization.<\/p>\n<p>Once you see that nothing will happen in a particular situation, your anxiety about the situation decreases. It is postulated by researchers that by completing this process you are forming new connections in the amygdala, the fear center of your brain.<\/p>\n<p>This would certainly explain why exposure therapy can be very effective for treating anxiety attacks &amp; agoraphobia.\u00a0 Without actually carrying out exposure therapy for your own fears though it\u2019s probably hard for you to fully appreciate its effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p>We would like to share with you an abundance of self-help techniques for anxiety, stress management, agoraphobia and panic attacks.\u00a0 Please sign up for our <a href=\"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/newsletter\/\">newsletter<\/a> directly below and obtain help with self-improvement for your anxiety and much more!<\/p>\n<div class=\"AW-Form-341207382\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">(function(d, s, id) {\n    var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n    if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n    js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n    js.src = \"\/\/forms.aweber.com\/form\/82\/341207382.js\";\n    fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, \"script\", \"aweber-wjs-c0ty2hg9p\"));\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">References (Treating Anxiety Attacks &amp; Agoraphobia: Exposure Therapy)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">1. Borchard, T. (2011). I Am So NOT Sorry: An Exercise in Exposure Therapy. Psych Central.<br \/>\nRetrieved on February 26, 2012, from<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/psychcentral.com\/blog\/archives\/2011\/07\/11\/i-am-so-not-sorry-an-exercise-in-exposure-therapy\/\">http:\/\/psychcentral.com\/blog\/archives\/2011\/07\/11\/i-am-so-not-sorry-an-exercise-in-exposure-therapy\/<\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">2. Exposure Therapy. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Exposure_therapy\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Exposure_therapy<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\">3. Mayo Clinic. Agoraphobia. Retrieved on September 2, 2011, from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.com\/health\/agoraphobia\/DS00894\">http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.com\/health\/agoraphobia\/DS00894<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/apis.google.com\/js\/platform.js\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"g-ytsubscribe\" data-channelid=\"UCJfm1Oh6tZl2clckmX3pQ7w\" data-layout=\"default\" data-count=\"hidden\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n<script id=\"godaddy-security-s\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.sucuri.net\/badge\/badge.js\" data-s=\"221\" data-i=\"cfb2b3c6bbd25e7a29b59a6904ea23c6336163afd4\" data-p=\"o\" data-c=\"d\" data-t=\"g\"><\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We present some interesting information about whether exposure therapy works for anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia that you will probably want to check out.\u00a0 There are a number of mental health professionals who use this technique. Before delving right\u00a0into treating anxiety attacks and agoraphobia, one must ask the question: what is a good way to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yst_prominent_words":[208,557,555,29,562,559,39,71,568,556,561,569,37,28,566,567,565,564,560,558],"class_list":["post-279","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1751,"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/279\/revisions\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panicattackrecovery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}