There are two treatments for panic attacks – medication and psychological therapies. Some people advocate the former while others support the former; some insist on a combination of the two. It all gets a bit confusing so how do you know which treatment course to follow?

First of all, there is no single approach that suits everybody when it comes to panic attacks and anxiety disorders. A cornerstone of effective therapy is that it is individually tailored to the person after a detailed study of the symptoms and when they occur. This should apply regardless of which panic attack treatment you choose to follow – and, in the end, it is your choice and you have to feel comfortable with it.

One of the most effective psychological approaches is that of cognitive behavior therapy or CBT. Studies have shown CBT to be more successful in the long run than medication. To be more specific, more people who were treated with CBT remained panic free six months after treatment stopped than those who were on medication. A further study showed that while medication may be effective in treating the symptoms of panic attacks, the benefits stopped when the medication stopped. That is, people had to keep taking the drugs which then lead to unpleasant side effects.

CBT therapy requires work and commitment by the therapist and, more importantly, by the person seeking treatment. It’s not as easy as taking drugs a few times a day and the effects are not seen so quickly, but if you compare a drug free life free of panic attacks to taking medication for the rest of your life, then the advantages are obvious.

The focus of CBT is getting you to solve the problem yourself so you feel in control of your life again. This is very important as one of the biggest fears of those suffering from panic attacks is that they have lost control over themselves, often to the extent that they feel they are losing their minds. The ‘cognitive’ part of the therapy means changing the way you think through a very gradual desensitization process.

For example, let’s say your first attack occurred in a crowded room, at a party perhaps. Because the feelings were so intense and you were so frightened, you never want to experience it again. So, you go out of your way to avoid that situation – you make up excuses so as not to face a reoccurence. But this means that you are sitting at home by yourself when everyone else is at the party having fun. Not an ideal situation.

So, desensitization means taking very small steps firstly to get you used to the idea of going to a party (cognition) and then getting you there (behavior). Your first step might be getting dressed as if you are going. That’s it. Just dealing with the feeling that you are going is enough for one day. This may go on for several days until you feel comfortable with the thought that you are going to a party. When you are ready, you take the next step which may be getting dressed and then opening the front door as if you are on your way out. That’s it for the second step. When you’re ready, the third step is getting dressed, opening the front door and closing it. And so on.

While you are going through these steps at your own pace, you are also taught how to deal with the conflicting feelings you have. Controlling your breathing is instrumental here. Rapid breathing is often the catalyst for the other symptoms you experience during a panic attack so if you have techniques for keeping your breathing rate steady then this could be the difference between a slight twinge of anxiety and a full-blown  attack.

Many therapists agree that 10-12 sessions are sufficient for most people to be able to manage their problem on their own. After the first five or six, improvement can be seen and the person begins to feel confident that they can regain control of their lives.A final step in the treatment process is to teach management techniques in case panic threatens to rear its ugly head in the future. Armed with this knowledge, it’s a very real possibility that panic attacks are a thing of the past.