Panic Attacks Think Yourself Free: The Self-Help Book to Overcome Panic Attacks

By David Bryan

One in three people will suffer a panic attack at some point in their lives.
Anxiety disorders are common affecting 5 per cent of the population at any
one time. Statistics have shown that the most effective form of treatment is
talking therapy and self-help books.
If you are a sufferer, with the help of this book, you will be on the right road
to curing yourself.
Come and take the journey with me, and we will go through the book together.
You will learn new skills and new ways to think, feel, and behave, and with
practice, patience, and determination, you will never need to suffer again!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jul 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462849420

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by David Bryan.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011911103

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-2963-7

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-2962-0

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-4942-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.XlibrisPublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

302231

Contents

Acknowledgements

Aims of Our Book

Preface

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 What Is a Panic Attack?

Chapter 3 What Are the Causes?

Chapter 4 Lifestyle: Cause and Effect—Effect and Cause

Chapter 5 Common Treatments of Panic Attacks

Chapter 6 Self-Help Tools

Chapter 7 Consistency, Commitment, and Benefits

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this to my loving wife. She is my best friend, as well as my personal assistant and everything else. She has researched for me, supported me, and helped me to write this book and a series of other books. I also dedicate this to great clients, who also encourage me, having made major changes themselves, in their lives, behaviours, and attitudes.

Aims of Our Book

It is my aim to help you make small or big steps to facilitate changes in your emotional, physical, and mental behaviours that are stopping you from enjoying your life. This book is dedicated to making it possible for you to never have panic attacks ever again.

It is the first in a series of books to address the whole person and give you a bigger picture of what you are dealing with, enhancing your life, making it more manageable, and for you to return to a more comfortable, enjoyable existence. I am not talking about looking back to how you used to be, but looking forward to how you want to be and recognising your potential. I will show you how to identify the anxieties, stresses, triggers, behaviours, thoughts, and emotions and look at them in another way, giving you a better picture of yourself so that you can realise that you are not alone in this—it is a familiar pattern in many people, it is normal, and it can and does change; it did for me.

Preface

Yes, this is the preface, the bit they insist on sticking at the start of a book that stops you getting started on the book itself! If you are desperate to get cracking on conquering your panic attacks, feel free to skip. If you’re still here, let me tell you a little something about David Bryan and why I think you’ve made a great choice in picking up his first book.

As you don’t know me, you will have no idea if I am prone to hyperbole, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say I’m not. I say this because the next sentence might seem over the top, but let me assure you that it is true. Working with David Bryan is turning me into a new and better man.

I came to David with full of righteous anger and self-justification. My marriage was floundering, I felt I was making a mess of being a father, I was struggling in my job, and Marriage Guidance had to stop seeing us because I had anger management issues that they were not qualified to deal with. My head was a mess: I was angry, anxious, and prone to imagining and fretting over all kinds of terrors, both real and irrational, and I was taking it out on my family. Luckily, my wife was more determined than I was and tracked down someone the police considered as the man to go to for emotional issues such as anger and abuse. That man was David Bryan.

I went fully expecting, and probably wanting, to hate him. I had my arsenal of sarcastic comments and witty put-downs at the ready. Bring on the old toff in the glasses with the tweed coat and the pipe, I thought. I was rather perplexed when, instead of someone from the 1970s, David resembled Simon Cowell’s twin brother, and instead of Matt Smith’s wardrobe, he was dressed in a white T-shirt and a pair of stonewashed jeans. This man looked like a real person.

During the next hour, I let him have it. I argued against the reasons for me being there, I made tasteless jokes, and I pretended not to care. Like Darth Vader, all my attacks were repulsed by a cheery wave of his hand, a nod, or a knowing smile. During that time, he had been quietly removing all my armour without my knowing it. By the end of that first hour, I was reeling. I had been so sure, so certain. I knew what my anger was about; I knew who’s fault it was, but now, now I wasn’t so sure. I began to realise maybe I was mistaken.

It has been a long journey—the one I have undertaken with David Bryan. From an angry man-child who was verbally abusing his wife and children, he took me back to the causes of it, to a lonely and frightening childhood and the aching absence of a father. He helped me to see why I was the way I was, and what I could start to do to change things and to make my life better. It’s not been an easy journey, and I have struggled. Through it all, he has been there, a calming and reassuring presence. He has had me singing my phobias, talking to my imaginary self in the next chair, and hitting a tree with a stick. He’s nothing if not versatile.

Above all, David is real. He has lived and is not afraid to share his experiences. It’s so reassuring to hear that this wise old soul sitting across from me has suffered and struggled. He has faced his own demons, been brought low by them, and picked himself up again. I really hope one day he will write his autobiography because it would be a heck of a read! He also has some great little catchphrases. He has taught me to ‘own it’ and stopped me from using the word ‘try’, but my favourite is ‘and?’ I know it doesn’t seem like much, but once, in the midst of a panic attack, I started listing all the bad things that could happen; he just would say ‘and?’ to each one. After a while, I did start to think myself ‘and?’ If that did happen, would it be that bad? Only David could help someone using one word.

OK, enough of the eulogising already! I hope you’ve got the idea that this man is someone you can trust, someone you can learn from, and someone you should read. Well? What are you waiting for?

Chapter 1

Introduction

Let me introduce myself. My name is David Bryan, and I can help you overcome panic attacks. With a proven track record, I have helped many clients recover from their maladies, which can be seen on my web site, the recovery rate of which is 85 per cent in many given areas. For the last eighteen years, my recovery rate has been better than any treatment centres, National Health Services, Mental Health Services, private clinics, and so-called clinical services. This is not to say that any of these are a waste of time—if you are getting help, don’t stop; any help and support is great and is better than no help at all.

At any one time, one in ten people are suffering from panic attacks (women are twice as likely to suffer panic attacks than men). So every tenth person you walk past could be a sufferer; No one is immune from this, and I mean no one. This includes doctors, policemen, dustmen, psychiatrists, milkmen, psychologists, and, as we say, Tom Cobley and all. There has been no defence against this malady, but there is treatment now. I am not talking about medication or long-term stays in clinics; I am talking about therapy here, in this book and from counsellors who are experienced and professional. There is solid documented evidence to support the effectiveness of talking treatments to cure panic attacks.

Along with this self-help book, a good qualified therapist is recognised as the best way forward in learning how to overcome panic attacks. What I mean by a good and qualified therapist is one that has experienced life and has genuine empathy with the client, and will go that bit further, not one who books appointments and doesn’t turn up, or one who sits with the client and doesn’t comment and is of no help whatsoever. I have found that most, if not all, professional services offered wanting, without depth and with massive waiting lists. Many are underfunded; the training they receive leaves them working on computers and programs that are out of date, and they are overloaded with paperwork, which doesn’t leave time for the client. A good therapist is someone who has time for the client, who is empathic, and cares and has a balanced view, who looks at the whole person, not just part. The Germans call it Gestalt (the whole person), the Chinese call it the One (Ying and Yang), the Japanese call it Ki (internal spirit), the whole person. As you read on further, you will see how I work with clients with positive reinforcements, with tools to help them change the thinking processes and emotions, with essential ideas and lateral thinking that will help any malady that they may be experiencing. Just like a builder wouldn’t come into your house with just a hammer to help you get your house the way you’d like it, a good therapist will have dozens of tools at his disposal to help you get your life and head the way you want it.

In this book, I have taken a look at the bigger picture and given you an overall view of how different people have tried to address panic attacks and given you the best of all of them, the ones that work. I am taking you on a journey, like any good therapist would, to recovery, without going down long or wrong roads. The tools I will give you in this book, if used properly and to their fullest extent, will get you well, I promise you.

Some of you may choose to use the book alone; others will need the help of a good therapist as well. For example, you may have the best surgeon in the world operate on you, but an open wound has to heal from the inside out if it is to stay healed and closed. The same applies to therapy. The best therapist on the planet may ‘operate’, but the scars need time and patience to heal from the inside, for the treatment to have long-lasting effects. It doesn’t matter how far down the road you are; with commitment and consistency and belief, you can overcome your panic attacks, as I did, and return to a confident and fulfilled life, maybe for the first time.

I wanted to start my first book around panic attacks because it is close to my heart as I suffered from panic attacks for over four years. At that time, the only help I could find was prescribed medication, by doctors or psychiatrists, which made it worse: There was no help once the medication stopped, and I was still having panic attacks during and after taking medication. I thought I was going crazy, that I had something wired wrong in my brain. I had never seen anybody who had suffered from panic attacks before or would admit to it. I was twenty-eight and had lived, but was anxious and fearful about everything: about eating in cafes or restaurants, going shopping and standing at the tills, being in town or in cars or flying, or being around people. I thought I was dying—it was nearly impossible to go out of the door. I was agoraphobic and was phobic about everything. I was diagnosed as manically depressed (commonly known as bipolar) and was told by a top head psychiatrist that I was never going to be able to work again, as I was so bad, and would never have a normal life again (whatever normal is). I knew this was so very wrong, but the psychiatrist had planted a terrible seed and given me a label. It took me another five years to realise that I was suffering from a malady—one that could be worked on, changed, and I didn’t ever have to suffer from any of these maladies ever again. In my other books, I will say more about how I changed my life and how I can help you to change yours.

One of the biggest things that changed my life was realising there was nothing out there for the sufferer of panic attacks, anxiety, or stress. Most people are pushed from pillar to post (and still left) dealing with these horrible issues, which can and do run concurrent and in addition to depression, anxiety, stress, personality disorder, and so on, which can exacerbate panic attacks. After addressing my own issues, the knowledge that there wasn’t anything out there for other sufferers spurred me on to become a professional therapist/counsellor and begin my own service. So I trained to be a professional and studied all these different maladies and more, and I have now been working eighteen years in this field and have never had a panic attack since. Using the tools I will show you, I now work specialising in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks, anxiety, stress, alcohol and drugs, personality disorders, post-traumatic personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychosis, dual diagnosis, complex needs, loss and bereavement, anger control, anger management, sleeping disorder, bipolar (better known as manic depression), and others.

Let me tell you from here on, you no longer need to suffer these maladies ever again. Look for my books on all the different issues you are dealing with, and you will find tools, ideas, suggestions, directions, and useful quotations, but, most of all, common sense. I will help you to normalise your issues, to help you get well, and to help you change your life to how you would like it to be: drug free, medication free, doctor and psychiatrist free, malady free, and free of self. As well as suffering myself, I have done extensive research into these issues. You won’t find anything like my books. You will get well if you take it seriously, put things into action, and do what I’ve suggested.

Most of us wouldn’t like to admit that our emotions, behaviours, and thoughts get the better of us at some time or another. We can be overwhelmed daily by situations which sometimes baffle us and can cause us undue anxiety. This can be overwhelming, uncomfortable, and irritating; the consequences of which are that we feel we are drowning in our emotions and feelings: first exhausted, then angry, frustrated, tense, anxious, feeling tired, and panicky. Fearful of our responses, which could get out of control, we wish we could run away, so we swallow down the feeling and struggle to carry on (which is maybe the norm). Not taking positive steps to address the effects can, and do, result in the emotions building up, leaving us increasingly overpowered by our feelings until we find them impossible to cope with. We may have done little or nothing to change these things. We may be unaware of our emotional response to a situation, because we have just never taken the time to think about it. It is vitally important to our sense of control and therefore our emotional balance that we are aware of the impact of different pressures and strains that life can present.

Being in control of our emotions is extremely important. Just like our hands and legs, they are vital for balanced human functioning, just as stress is necessary to stimulate and maintain our concentration as we go about our day. Reaching a balance between the two is a very difficult thing to do. Making a decision to make changes in your life and fight your panic attacks will not give you instant relief or gratification. You may feel overwhelmed for a period of time, but you are starting to address your issues, maybe for the first time in your life. You will start to cue up the right emotions (CURE). No matter how hard it feels, you have made the right choice. If you had not made a choice at all, you would carry on feeling really bad, as it is progressive, and will only get worse with little chance of recovery and of a new life. I say to you now: make a choice and decide when you are going to start to put the tools in this book into your life. Choose a day; choose a time, just like giving up smoking, or anything else that may need addressing. It may have taken you a long time to come to this decision, to do something about your anxiety and panic attacks, maybe years of pain and misery, but now you are making these choices to address these underlying issues that you may have avoided for a long time. Recovery is difficult, but it is really worth it. It is about adopting a new lifestyle, which takes determination and consistency, as all these emotions may have been in control of