What is The Panic Puzzle?

Panic Puzzle is a complete guide to overcoming your anxiety,panic attacks, and irrational fears.

It walks you step by step through exactly what you need to be doing in order to remove negative, scary, and irrational thoughts from your mind and replace them with thoughts of peace and confidence.

It will open your eyes to the TRUTH about anxiety and panic attacks, explaining to you precisely how your anxiety works, why you’ve had trouble overcoming it, and what you need to do to get rid of it – once and for all.

The Panic Puzzle Program takes you by the hand step-by-step through everything you need to know to overcome your anxiety, phobias, and panic attacks. You’ll discover exactly what you must do so you can leave your fear where it belongs… in your past.

You don’t need to grit your teeth and battle to overcome your anxiety and panic, and it doesn’t take a lot of time, which you probably don’t have. You just follow the simple steps and before you know it, you will see how much different, and better, your life will be.

This isn’t New Age nonsense or some instant anxiety cure that leaves you more disappointed and depressed than before. It’s based on solid psychology that’s guaranteed to work for you too.

Judging by the testimonials from former anxiety sufferers, The Panic Puzzle looks like one of the best courses around to help you to get over anxiety.

Of course, it won’t work for everyone but it certainly has many happy customers, and comes with a money-back guarantee if you don’t find it works for you.

I have to say it’s not as cheap as some at its current price of $87, but you can’t put a price on health and you do get a lot for your money.

You can find out more here…The Official Panic Puzzle Website

Download this FREE eBook

The Trick Anxiety Plays On You And How To Change The Rules…

By Rich Presta

Author of The Panic Puzzle and Driving Fear Programs

Click on the image to download the FREE ebook NOW

As most doctors will tell you, there are two things that disturb sleep: physical pain and worry.

It’s therefore understandable that many people with anxiety report frequent sleep disturbance as a major problem.

Not being able to sleep can actually be quite traumatic for many people.

by Barry Joe McDonagh, the creator of the PanicAway method for dealing with panic attacks.

The first thing you need to understand about sleep is this: it’s not the amount of sleep you get that’s important, but rather the quality of the sleep.

Quality of sleep over quantity.

I am going to give you some quick tips to help tackle any problems you are having with sleep. Firstly, to break the insomnia cycle, begin by not presuming you will sleep! That seems like the wrong attitude, but if you approach each night as just a possible opportunity to sleep, this helps remove the pressure you are placing yourself under.

In a way, some people have performance anxiety when they think about sleeping:

“Will I be able to make myself sleep tonight?”

The answer is maybe yes, maybe no. If you’re going through a period of sleeplessness, a good night’s sleep isn’t guaranteed, for whatever reason, so you have to accept that for the moment. If you get one or two hours’ sleep, that’s well and good, and if you get nothing, then accept it and move on. Each night, as you retire, say to yourself:

“I’m preparing for bed, but I won’t try to force sleep. If it comes, it comes. If not, I won’t beat myself up over it. This is a period I’m going through, but I’ll soon return to normal sleep patterns.”

Every person goes through periods of sleeplessness from time to time. It’s very natural. You may not be aware of why you experience sleeplessness, but at the very least, you can accept it.

Let me emphasize the importance of surrendering to your inability to sleep. Surrender to whatever may or may not happen during the course of a night, and you’ll put your mind under less pressure. After a certain point, it’s really the anger and frustration that keep you awake most of the night.

Naturally the best way to get a good night’s sleep is a good physical workout each evening in the outdoors. This is very effective because the mind may try to keep you awake, but the sheer physical exhaustion brings on sleep quicker. Couple that with a willingness to accept sleeplessness, and you’ll find yourself sleeping much easier.

Remember that alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine should be avoided several hours before sleep. You may be the type who finds it initially hard to get to sleep as your mind races with anxious thoughts. Should you find your mind racing and you simply can’t achieve sleep, keep a journal beside your bed. Sit upright and start to write down how you feel:

“I’m feeling quite restless. I keep turning over and over, trying to sleep, but I have worries on my mind.” Now write down all of your worries, for example:

“Tomorrow I have to do X, and I’m afraid I won’t be well rested, etc.”

Continue to write down your worries until the exercise actually becomes quite boring. Then your body and mind will slowly want to return to sleep. Writing like this is a simple tool for preparing your mind in a linear way to wind down and return to sleep (an advanced form of counting sheep).

Don’t be afraid of writing pages and pages of nothing in particular. What you’re doing is helping the conscious mind release whatever is keeping it awake so it can stop obsessing and return to sleep.

You see, one of the reasons we can’t fall asleep is that our mind feels these worries (whatever they are) are important to analyze over and over; they need urgent attention and therefore should be thought about all night long.

The more worked up you get by the worries, the more your body gets stimulated and the harder sleep is to achieve. Writing down all your worries on paper has the effect of saying to your mind:

“Okay, mind, you think these are important. I’ve written them all down in detail. They won’t be forgotten, I promise. I can come back to them tomorrow and deal with them then-but RIGHT NOW, let’s sleep.”

The mind can be like a small child who just needs reassurance that things will be dealt with and looked after. That’s all it needs to let go of these mental worries. You then discover, in the morning, that almost all of the worries or concerns aren’t big issues. Many of our worries are the workings or an overactive imagination.

Dr. Dennis Gersten of San Diego suggests an approach that is effective for particularly restless nights. You may want to experiment with it the next time you are very restless in bed.

Try this if you have trouble sleeping:

-As you lie there in bed, start by remembering a time in your life when you absolutely had to stay awake! Maybe it was an important exam you were studying for and you had to keep cramming through the night.

Maybe it was staying up all night nursing your baby to sleep. Maybe it was when you were traveling through the night on a bus and needed to stay awake in case you missed your stop.

I am sure there have been many different occasions in your life where you had to force yourself to stay awake.

-Remember the weariness and the effort just to keep your eyes open. Remember how your eyelids felt like lead weights and you wished you could close them, even just for a minute. At that time, you could not give in to your urge to fall asleep; you had to fight hard to stay awake. Relive those memories and really try and remember exactly what that felt like.

-Now think about right now, and how good it feels to actually be in bed with no pressing need to stay awake. Think how much you would have given to be where you are now, lying in your bed with your head resting on the pillow and the complete freedom you have to fall asleep. It feels really good to actually have full permission to fall asleep right now.

There are no demands on you to stay awake. With your eyes closed spend a few more minutes remembering that time.

Night Panic Attacks

People with anxiety disorders can sometimes be awakened at night by panic attacks. We know that most nighttime panic attacks aren’t caused by dreams.

Records of sleep polysomnographia show that most panic attacks take place during the early sleep phase (phase II), not during the REM phase associated with dreams.

This is different from nightmares. Nightmares happen during the second half of the night, so we’re often able to remember the content of these dreams.

It’s important not to go to bed fearing you might have a panic attack. Go to bed confident that if one should arise, you’ll successfully deal with it. That way, you don’t put yourself under pressure to NOT have a panic attack. Many panic attacks are experienced at the very moment of falling asleep.

If you wake with a panic attack, implement the One Move Technique as outlined in my course Panic Away.

Hypnic Jerks

Here’s a description a woman recently gave of her experience:

“Getting to sleep is a real problem. Just as I’m about to drop off to sleep, my body seems to jolt awake, like an electric shock, which then frightens me and keeps me awake for hours.”

This jolt is called a hypnic jerk, or hypnagogic massive jerk. A hypnic jerk usually occurs just as the person enters sleep. People often describe it as a falling sensation or an electric shock, and it’s a completely normal experience. It’s most common when we’re sleeping uncomfortably or overtired.

There’s been little research on the subject, but there are some theories as to why hypnic jerks occur. When we drift off into sleep, the body undergoes changes in temperature, breathing, and muscle relaxation.

The hypnic jerk may be a result of the muscles relaxing. The brain misinterprets this as a sign of falling, and it signals our limbs to wake up, hence the jerking legs or arms.

People turn hypnic jerks into panic attacks because they already feel nervous about their condition and the jolt scares them into thinking something bad is happening. Again, it’s a fearful reaction to a sensation.

Usually when these people wake up, they gasp for air, and this can also turn into a fear of a breathing problem while sleeping. If you jolt awake with panic, then simply understanding the nature of a hypnic jerk can strip away the anxiety from the experience.

Reassure yourself that you’re safe and that the jerk isn’t something to worry about. It doesn’t disrupt your bodily functions, and it doesn’t put you in any danger.

All too often people with anxiety are pressurized to end their anxiety. People pass remarks like:

“I wish you could just snap out of your anxiety”.

Although people mean well, these type of comments are not helpful. People don’t just think one thought and snap out of anxiety. There is a step by step process of removing the illusion that anxiety creates and for some this can take time where the anxiety has been present for many years.

Anxiety IS Curable

I really want to impress upon you that anxiety is curable. What you must never stop doing is searching for the right approach for you. By the way I hope I have not come across too strong in pushing my course Panic Away. I am excited by the results it gets and that is why I talked about it frequently.

After many years working in this area I am now more convinced than ever that every single person, regardless of how severe, can end their anxiety problem. If you have a thought that is telling you different then you need to lose that thought.

Never stop trying, never give up. That is the best you can do.

Best Wishes

Barry Joe McDonagh

If you want to learn more about my work then visit the following link:

www.panicaway.com

There is a symptom not often mentioned in panic attack literature that I would like to discuss. It is the sensation of unreality‚ this sensation is called depersonalization by psychologists.

Many people who experience panic attacks and anxiety attacks become distressed by this sensation and feel they may be losing their mind.

People who experience panic attacks report feeling disconnected from their world‚ or having a sensation of unreality. The sensation is described as if the world has become nothing more than a projection of a film.

This sensation is quite distressing as it often leads to the individual believing that some permanent damage has been done to their brain‚ causing these sensations.

A typical manifestation of this depersonalization is when the individual may be having a conversation with someone and suddenly feels alarmingly isolated and removed from the situation. Once the sensation arises it can make such an impact that it takes days to leave the eerie feeling behind and stop thinking about it.

The sensation is caused by delayed perception. While under constant stress or anxiety there is a build up of stress chemicals in your system that causes a delayed response in the transmission of information between neurotransmitter sites in your body.

This slight delay between experience and thought can create a momentary sensation of unreality.

The same effects are experienced under the influence of marijuana but people do not react with fear in this situation because they are aware it is the drug causing the sensation; it is when the sensation arrives while you are doing your tax returns that things feel a little scary!

I mention depersonalization because the condition is not often spoken about‚ and to reassure those of you who may have experienced this sensation‚ that it is only a side–effect of excessive anxiety and will pass as soon as the body learns to relax. Once the body returns to a normal level of relaxation it then has the opportunity to dispel some excess chemicals.

It is very easy to start imagining all the terrible mental illnesses that this could be but don’t worry you haven’t caused any damage to yourself you will return to the person you were before depersonalization crept in. You will have to trust me on that.

The quickest way out of this disconnected feeling is to really accept it for the time being and have faith that it will pass shortly. Shrug your shoulders and relax into it. You can take this relaxed attitude to it because you know that you will return to normal when you move out of this period of anxiety.

It is a phase you are moving through so be patient with yourself while you are in it.

What really moves people out of this sensation quickest is adopting an attitude that all is well. And it is. These unusual sensations of depersonalization are just a nuisance‚ but it will pass.

Not feeling connected to yourself in this manner is solely due to the anxiety in your system and it is then reinforced by your constant checking to see how you are feeling.

It is like you are over analyzing yourself all the time and that can make you feel even more strange. I appreciate how uncomfortable it can feel but don’t worry about it‚ it will leave.

Don’t let the thoughts sucker you into thinking you are alone and stuck with this feeling of depersonalization all your life. Those thoughts are not valid. The more you can flow along with it and not react the more quickly you will return to feeling more yourself. It takes a little practice but that change in attitude will make a big difference for you.

You will look back in the very near future and wonder what all the fuss was about and that anxious person will seem like the stranger.

The “Panic Away” Program:
Proof At Last that Panic Attacks and Anxiety
Can be Eliminated For Good!

I have just found out about a brand new anxiety program that might help you understand the causes of anxiety and how to prevent it ruining your life. It’s by Rich Presta who is an internationally recognized expert on overcoming anxiety and panic attacks.

His new book is called the Anxiety Lie.

Note – this is just a review of the product. For more information please click the link to visit the official Anxiety Lie Website

Why is it called that?

Well, Rich states that what you have heard about anxiety so far is not exactly a lie but it certainly isn’t the whole truth. This book gives you the real truth about anxiety

The thing is the people who sell panic attack and anxiety cures don’t really want you to know everything about anxiety because they think that what you don’t know won’t hurt you.

They are primarily businesses after all, so their sales page tries to imbue in you a sense of hope to make you more receptive to buy their ebooks and videos.

It doesn’t mean their panic attack and anxiety cures don’t work, but they are in it for the profit after all so shy away from telling you the bad stuff about anxiety upfront.

The Anxiety Lie is different.

In it, Rich tells you the no-holds-barred truth about anxiety. He even warns you that you may not like what you read. The fact is, you might not want to hear the truth as it could change the way you look at stopping anxiety.

This is unlike anything you’ve ever read before about anxiety or panic attacks and Rich states that the feedback from users has been positive so far. However, please bear in mind that the Anxiety Lie program needs some effort and it is NOT a quick fix for anxiety disorder or a short term solution.

You can find out more about Rich Presta’s ‘The Anxiety Lie’ by clicking on the link below.

Visit The Anxiety Lie Website…

Constant stress can cause you to have a panic attack. If you are the type of person that worries too much about things, then you could be at risk. Panic attacks are born out of the fear that something bad us going to happen, which causes you to stress out more than you normally would.

When you feel you’re having a panic attack, you may start to feel dizzy and your heart will beat faster.

Other signs that you may be having a panic attack include:

• Nausea

• Numb

• Feeling of paralysis (can’t move)

• Breathing difficulties

• Sweaty hand and palms

• Increased Tension

Some tips for controlling anxiety and panic attacks include:

• Try to remain calm and relaxed; this can help to lessen the effects of a panic attack.

• Face the panic attacks head on; if you avoid them, it will be more difficult to deal with them in the future.

• Develop the mindset of not letting the panic attacks get to you; meditate on words that can help you relieve your anxiety problems.

• Find some people that can depend on for support. You need people that have your back and will rally around you when the going gets tough.

If you have physical symptoms of anxiety panic attacks consistently, you should consult with your physician to find out what’s going on. More than likely, it can be due to stress levels that increase in intensity.

If your physician finds out that’s the case, then they may prescribe you with some medicine to get rid of the panic attacks. The sooner you get help for this, the better chance you have of being stress-free sooner than later.

More than forty million American adults suffer from some type of anxiety or panic, and for many, it has a very real cost to their lifestyle.

If you find yourself arguing with your partner more frequently than normal; catch yourself side-stepping social events; or perhaps even fostering unrealistic feelings of fear or apprehension there’s a good chance you are experiencing some type of anxiety disorder.

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard the term “panic attack.” The reality is that panic attacks are real, but they are just one of many types of anxiety disorders. One myth surrounding anxiety is that having an anxiety disorder somehow makes you a bad or weak person. Everyone has had feelings of anxiousness or fear at some time or another. How a person deals with those feelings is what determines if it is ruling your life or not. For a growing percentage of society, the impact of anxiety is very real, and that only reflects cases that are reported. What is really alarming is that many adolescents and children are also affected by stress and anxiety.

The body’s basic response to stress is significant in how a person protects themselves from perceived treats. It measures a person’s chances for survival when faced with danger or a potentially dangerous situation. A person can either face the stress and fight back, or retreat and take flight.

The fight or flight syndrome is a person’s reaction to stressful circumstances, even in the ordinary course of life. Such reactions or choices are inherent in your modern fight for survival. Your fight or flight reaction is stimulated the moment you are faced with a potentially dangerous situation. The smell of danger keeps the adrenaline rushing through your veins, and gets your heart beating faster. This is what makes you feel faint or weak. The strange thing is that it is your body’s way of preparing you for fight or flight! Just try running when you feel like this. You might be surprised at how fast you can run! At the fight or flight stage, you have a choice to make; you can either become aggressive and face the danger, or be passive and retreat.

Allowing yourself to become exposed to fight or flight situations regularly can be stressful and dangerous to your health. It can backlash and lead to heart ailments, migraines and soaring blood pressure, and for many it leads to social withdrawal.

However it doesn’t have to rule your life. If you or a loved one experience continuous bouts of fear, concern, or apprehension of some unknown event, now is the time to examine your lifestyle. Manage and eliminate your anxiety today.

———————————————

This article is brought to you by PanicAnxietyGone.com

If you suffer from panic attacks and anxiety and want relief… if you’re tired of trying pills, potions, and therapy… If you’d like to eliminate anxiety once and for all, as safely, naturally, and as effectively as possible… then it’s time to take control of your fears.

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Author Edward Golding is a former anxiety sufferer who has created a guaranteed 4-step holistic system that provides a natural and long-term approach to managing the root cause of panic and anxiety.

Edward has the secrets to free you from the pain of anxiety and help you get your life back today

I am writing this in the hope that it might ring true with even just one person who is a similar situation as I was when I felt down and trapped in fear because of panic attacks.

I was 31 when I had my first panic attack. I was sitting in the locker room at work talking to a co-worker when I started to feel very uncomfortable. My body started to feel a strange buzzing sensation, and my whole body began to tense up. At first I thought it might have been an allergic reaction to something, and then I began to fear it was something more serious like a heart attack. I ended up lying down on the bench in a state of near paralysis. As no one, especially me knew what was wrong I ended up going to hospital in an ambulance. After a few tests were done I was reassured that I wasn’t having a heart attack but a panic attack. I felt really embarrassed about it and still remember the look I got from one nurse who looked at me as if I was a mental case or something!

That was the first of many anxiety or panic attacks I was to experience over the next few years. I did not know what a ‘panic attack’ was until my doctor explained it to me. At first I thought he was talking rubbish and that I had something more seriously wrong with me. He did not give a lot of information about it but said I had developed an anxiety disorder. He prescribed some tablets to calm me down which I took for some months and they definitely made me feel less anxious. When I ran out of them I started to feel edgy until I got my next prescription. In the end I stopped taking them, as I feared I would become addicted or have bad side effects.

Sometimes at night I would wake with anxiety and every morning as I got up, I would check to see how anxious I felt in my stomach- the one thing always on my mind was “am I going to have a panic attack today”. Along with this I began to have thoughts that scared me as if I might go crazy and do something totally out of character in public or with the people close to me.

I was so stressed I started to lose confidence in my own ability to control my own life. It influenced many decisions I made for the next three years. Holidays, nights out, work trips all were influenced by this nagging fear of anxiety. Driving also started to become difficult as I feared being stuck in traffic or at red lights and if I had a panic attack I wouldn’t be able to operate the car. I felt helpless.

This however is a letter of hope. I am writing this to let others who might be experiencing something similar that I found a way out of my anxiety. I found the Panic Away program on the internet and was initially wary of buying it, as I had not heard of it before. Because it had a money-back guarantee I decided to take a chance and downloaded the e-book. As I read it I felt Mr. Barry was speaking directly to me. He knew exactly what I was going through and outlined a way to move out of the anxiety with a technique he calls the One Move.

This approach has made a world of difference. I applied the technique each morning (when I usually experienced worst anxiety) and immediately noticed a difference. Something was changing – it is hard to describe, like a light going on – It felt like I was not running away from the fear any more.

Some weeks passed without significant anxiety and then little by little I dared to do things I was avoiding – driving on my own, flying on my own, lots of stuff on my own where before I needed someone with me. One year later here I am writing this story feeling 100% better. I now do not fear anxiety coming back because I have moved beyond it.

That is what the  techniques in Panic Away have taught me.

Although my time spent trying to cope with anxiety was very difficult, I learnt more about myself than ever before. I also learnt that I have all the resources within me to deal with this; I just needed someone to guide me, and that was Joe Barry.

Visit the Panic Away Website >>>

If you’ve experienced firsthand a panic or anxiety attack then you will recognise some of the possible symptoms listed below . If you are reading this page because a loved one suffers from these symptoms and you are trying to understand or help, it’s hard to appreciate what they go through.

These are some of the main panic disorder symptoms…

* Palpitations

* a pounding heart, or an accelerated heart rate

* Sweating

* Trembling or shaking

* Shortness of breath

* A choking sensation

* Chest pain or discomfort

* Nausea or stomach cramps

* Derealization (a feeling of unreality)

* Fear of losing control or going crazy

* Fear of dying Numbness or a tingling sensation

* Chills or hot flashes

Just try to imagine what it feels like to experience a panic attack, if you can.

Here’s a typical example of a panic attack:

Standing in a supermarket queue, it’s been a long wait but only one customer to go before you make it to the cashier. Wait, what was that sensation? An unpleasant feeling forms in your throat, your chest feels tighter, now a sudden shortness of breath, and what do you know—your heart skips a beat. “Please, God, not here.”

A quick scan of the territory—is it threatening? Four unfriendly faces queue behind, one person in front. Pins and needles seem to prick you through your left arm, you feel slightly dizzy, and then the explosion of fear as you dread the worst. You are about to have a panic attack.

There is no doubt in your mind now that this is going to be a big one. Okay, focus: Remember what you have been taught, and it is time now to apply the coping techniques. Begin the deep breathing exercise your doctor recommended. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Think relaxing thoughts, and again, while breathing in, think “Relax,” and then breathe out. But it doesn’t seem to be having any positive effect; in fact, just concentrating on breathing is making you feel self-conscious and more uptight.

Try this method for overcoming panic attacks

Gradual muscle relaxation. Tense both shoulders, hold for 10 seconds, then release. Try it again. No; still no difference. The anxiety is getting worse and the very fact that you are out of coping techniques worsens your panic. If only you were surrounded by your family, or a close friend were beside you so you could feel more confident in dealing with this situation.

Now, the adrenaline is really pumping through your system, your body is tingling with uncomfortable sensations, and now the dreaded feeling of losing complete control engulfs your emotions. No one around you has any idea of the sheer terror you are experiencing. For them, it’s just a regular day and another frustratingly slow queue in the supermarket.

You are out of options. Time for Plan C...

The most basic coping skill of all is “fleeing.” Excuse yourself from the queue; you are slightly embarrassed as it is now that it is your turn to pay. The cashier is looking bewildered as you leave your shopping behind and stroll towards the door. There is no time for excuses—you need to be alone. You leave the supermarket and get into your car to ride it out alone. Could this be the big one? The one you fear will push you over the edge mentally and physically. Ten minutes later the panic subsides.

It’s 10:30 a.m. How are you going to make it through the rest of the day?

If you suffer from panic or anxiety attacks, the above scenerio probably sounds very familiar. It may have even induced feelings of anxiety and panic just reading it. The particular situations that trigger your panic and anxiety may differ; maybe the bodily sensations are a little different. Or maybe it happened to you for the first time on a plane, in the dentist chair, or even at home, while doing nothing in particular.

You’re not the only one to suffer from panic attacks…

If you have ever had what has become known as a “panic attack,” take comfort in the fact that you are by no means alone.

A panic attack always comes with the acute sense of impending doom. You feel you are either about to lose your mind or one of your vital bodily functions is about to cease functioning and you will end your days right there among the canned goods and frozen food.

You are by no means alone; you’re not even one in a million. In America, it is estimated that almost 5% of the population suffer anxiety attacks symptoms. For some, it may be the infrequent panic attacks that only crop up in particular situations-like when having to speak in front of others, while, for other people, it can be so frequent and recurring that it inhibits them from leaving their home. Frequent panic attacks often develop into what medical physicians refer to as an “anxiety disorder.”

One of the first steps to regaining control of your life is getting helpful information. This site will give you that, and more.

The beginning of your recovery starts here. What you will learn is that there is a very good chance you are about to end the cycle of panic attacks in your life. You will learn not only to regain the carefree life you remember once having, but will also gain new confidence in living. Your answer to living free from “panic” or “anxiety attacks” is at hand.

This site demonstrates that the panic and anxiety that you have experienced will be the very key to your courage and success.

Begin the road to recovery by browsing through the site. While many of you may have read almost everything you can possibly read relating to panic and anxiety I assure you this site offers something very effective.

Did you know this about panic attacks…?

The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple. The people who are cured no longer fear panic attacks. I’ll try to show you how to be one of these people as well.

What if I told you the trick to ending panic and anxiety attacks is to want to have one. That sounds strange, even contradictory, but let me explain.

The trick to panic attacks is wanting to have one-the wanting pushes it away. Can you have a panic attack in this very second? No!

You know the saying that “what you resist, persists.” Well that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist. How do you stop resisting–you move directly into it, into the path of the anxiety, and by doing so it cannot persist.

In essence what this means is that if you daily voluntarily seek to have a panic attack, you cannot have one. Try in this very moment to have a panic attack and I will guarantee you cannot. You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by saying this is beyond my control.

Another way to appreciate this is to imagine having a panic attack as like standing on a cliff’s edge. The anxiety seemingly pushes you closer to falling over the edge.

To be rid of the fear you must metaphorically jump. You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most.

How do you jump? You jump by wanting to have a panic attack. You go about your day asking for anxiety and panic attacks to appear.

Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you. That is medical fact. You are safe, the sensations are wild but no harm will come to you. Your heart is racing but no harm will come to you. The jump becomes nothing more than a two foot drop! Perfectly safe.

For a proven method to stop panic attacks visit:

http://www.panicportal.com

Joe Barry is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here:

http://www.panicportal.com

There is phobia that is linked to the experience of panic attacks, and that is agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places such as shopping markets. It is a fear associated with leaving a safe zone, such as the home.

Because of a feeling of being vulnerable, people who experience this fear often suffer from panic attacks in these “open” situations. It is true to say many people who have regular panic attacks experience different degrees of agoraphobia. Some have a lingering background anxiety about being away from home should they experience a panic attack. Other people are so immobilized by this fear that they find it very difficult to leave their home for even a short period.

The thinking behind agoraphobia usually follows the line that were a panic attack to occur, who would look after the person, how would he or she get the assistance and reassurance they needed? The vulnerability grows from the feeling that once victims of agoraphobia are caught in the anxiety, they are suddenly unable to look after themselves and are therefore at the mercy of the place they find themselves in and the strangers around them. In its extreme form, agoraphobia and panic attacks can lead to a situation where people become housebound for numerous years. Please note, this is by no means a hopeless situation, and I always need to reinforce the fact that something only becomes hopeless once the person really believes that to be the case.

To begin with, the primary issue that needs to be addressed is the belief in the safe zone. To clarify, when I talk about safe zone, I am referring to the zone where the person believes panic attacks do not occur, or at least occur infrequently. As comfort is found there, it is where the person tends to spend more and more time. The safe zone of anxiety is a myth sustained by the mind. The mind has developed a habit of thinking that dictates that being inside the safe zone is the only place to feel secure and avoid agoraphobia and panic attacks. If agoraphobia is an issue for you, watch as your mind comes up with reasons why it believes only a certain area is safe and another is not. Those reasons range from being near the phone or people you trust to having familiar physical surroundings to reassure you.

The reality of anxiety is that there is no such thing as a safe zone. There is nothing life threatening about a panic attack, and therefore sitting at home is the same as sitting under the stars on a desert island. Of course, your mind will immediately rush to tell you that a desert island is a ridiculous place to be as there are no hospitals, no tranquillisers, no doctors, NO SAFETY.

You need to review your previous experiences of panic attacks. Aren’t you still here, alive and well, after all those attacks during which you were convinced you were going to die?

It may be that on occasions you have been driven to the hospital where they did medicate you to calm you down, but do you really believe that you would not have survived were it not for the drugs? You would have. If the same bout of anxiety had occurred on this desert island, it too would have passed, even if you were all alone. Yes, when it comes to conditions that need medical attention such as asthma, diabetes, and a whole litany or other conditions, then having medical aid nearby is a big asset, but no doctor in the world would tell someone with anxiety that there are only specific safe zones in which she or he can move.

As I know more than anyone how terrifying it can feel to move out of your safe zone as the feeling of fear is welling up inside, I do not wish to sound harsh. This course is not about chastising people for their behaviours. It is a way of looking together at solutions and seeing through the myths that form prison walls. The goal is to enable you to return to a richer and more meaningful life and ultimately defeat your agoraphobia and panic attacks. I also realize that people around you cannot understand why a trip to shops would cause you such discomfort. You will have to forgive them and try not to be upset by their lack of understanding of your problem.

If an individual such as a partner or family member has not had a similar anxiety issue, that person may often find it hard to understand and empathize with what you are going through. I am sure you have been dragged out of the house numerous times against your will, kicking and screaming. This can then lead to tensions and arguments and is upsetting as it can make you feel less understood by those around you. People around agoraphobics are often simply trying what they feel is best. If you can see that their intentions are well meaning (although often misguided), then you will be able to relate to them better and help sooth any potential conflicts.

There is one thing I am sure you will agree with, and that is that the only person who will get you out of agoraphobic thinking is yourself. These are your thoughts, and only you can begin to change that pattern. Dealing with long term agoraphobia and panic attacks is a slow process to begin with, but once the results start happening, it moves faster and faster until you reach a point where you will find it hard to believe that going out was such a difficult task.

Joe Barry is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here:

http://www.panicportal.com

It is often observed that many people’s top ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather be lying in the casket at the funeral than giving the eulogy. Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur.

These speaking engagements do not necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events but can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion or give verbal feedback. The fear of public speaking and panic attacks in this case centers on having an attack while speaking. The individual fears being incapacitated by the anxiety and hence unable to complete what he or she is saying. The person imagines fleeing the spotlight and having to make all kinds of excuses later for their undignified departure out the office window….

This differs slightly from the majority of people who fear public speaking because their fear tends to revolve around going blank while speaking or feeling uncomfortable under the spotlight of their peers. The jitters or nerves of speaking in public are of course a problem for this group as well, but they are unfamiliar with that debilitating threat which is the panic attack, as they most likely have not experienced one before.

So how should a person with an anxiety issue tackle public speaking?

Stage one is accepting that all these bizarre and quite frankly unnerving sensations are not going to go away overnight. In fact, you are not even going to concern yourself with getting rid of them for your next talk. When they arrive during a speech/meeting, you are going to approach them in a new manner. What we need to do is build your confidence back to where it used to be before any of these sensations ever occurred. This time you will approach it in a unique, empowering manner, allowing you to feel your confidence again. It is said that most of the top speakers are riddled with anxiety before speaking, but they somehow use this nervousness to enhance their speech. I am going to show you exactly how to do this, although I know that right now if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks you may find it difficult to believe you can ever overcome it.

My first point is this and it is important. The average healthy person can experience an extreme array of anxiety and very uncomfortable sensations while giving a speech and is in no danger of ever losing control, or even appearing slightly anxious to the audience. No matter how tough it gets, you will always finish your piece, even if at the outset it feels very uncomfortable to go on. You will not become incapacitated in any way.

The real breakthrough for if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks happens when you fully believe that you are not in danger and that the sensations will pass.

“I realize you (the anxiety) hold no threat over me.”

What keeps a panic attack coming again and again is the fear of the fear—the fear that the next one will really knock your socks off and you feel you were lucky to have made it past the last one unscathed. As they were so unnerving and scary, it is your confidence that has been damaged by previous anxiety episodes. Once you fully understand you are not under any threat, then you can have a new response to the anxiety as it arises while speaking.

Defeating public speaking and panic attacks…

There is always a turning point when a person moves from general anxiety into a panic attack, and that happens with public speaking when you think to yourself:

“I won’t be able to handle this in front of these people.”

That split second of self-doubt leads to a rush of adrenaline, and the extreme anxiety arrives in a wave like format. If, however, when you feel the initial anxiety and you react with confidence that this is not a threat to you, you will move out of the anxiety rapidly. Using this new approach is a powerful ally because it means it is okay to feel scared and feel the anxiety when speaking–that is fine; you are going to feel it and move with and through the sensations in your body and out the other side. Because he or she is feeling very anxious, often before the talk has begun, that person may feel they have already let themselves down. Now, you can relax on that point. It is perfectly natural to feel the anxiety. Take for example the worst of the sensations you have ever experienced in this situation—be it general unease to loss of breath. You will have an initial automatic reaction that says:

“Danger–I’m going to have an episode of anxiety here and I really can’t afford that to happen.”

At this point most people react to that idea and confirm it must be true because of all of the unusual feelings they are experiencing. This is where your thinking can lead you down a train of thought that creates a cycle of anxiety that produces a negative impact on your overall presenting skills.

So let that initial “oh dear, not now” thought pass by, and follow it up immediately with the attitude of:

“There you are–I’ve been wondering when you would arrive. I’ve been expecting you to show up—by the way, I am not in the least threatened by any of the strange sensations you are creating—I am completely safe here.”

The key to controlling your fear of public speaking and panic attacks is that instead of pushing the emotional energy and excitement down into your stomach, you are moving out through it. Your body is in a slightly excited state, exactly as it should be while giving a speech, so release that energy in your self-expression. Push it out through your presentation not down into your stomach. You push it out by expressing yourself more forcefully. In this way you turn the anxiety to your advantage by using it to deliver a speech where you come across more alive, energetic and in the present moment. When you notice the anxiety drop as it does when you willingly move into it. Fire a quick thought off when you get a momentary break (as I am sure you have between pieces), asking it for “more.” You want more of its intense feelings as you are interested in them and are absolutely not threatened by them.

It seems like a lot of things to be thinking about while talking to a group of people, but it is not really. You’d be amazed how many different non-related thoughts you can have while speaking. This approach is about adopting a new attitude of confidence to what you might have deemed a serious threat up until now. This tactic will truly help you with fear of public speaking and panic attacks you have associated with them.

If your predominant fear of the speaking engagement is driven by a feeling of being trapped, then I would suggest factoring in some mental releases that can be prepared before the event. For example, some meetings/speeches allow for you to turn the attention back to the room to get feedback etc. from the group.

If possible, you might want to prepare such opportunities in your own mind before the engagements. This is not to say you have to ever use them, but people in this situation often remark that just having small opportunities where attention can be diverted for the briefest of moments can make the task seem less daunting. It my even be something as simple as having people introduce themselves or opening the floor to questions. I realize these diversions are not always possible and depend on the situation, but anything you can factor in that makes you feel less trapped or under the spotlight is worth the effort and can help alleviate fear of public speaking and panic attacks.

To find out more about how to stop panic attacks visit:

http://www.panicportal.com

Joe Barry is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here:

http://www.panicportal.com