Panic Disorder Treatment Program

Malibu Horizon treats clients with panic disorder as a part of our rehabilitation from alcohol or substance abuse.

Panic disorder affects about 6 million American adults and is twice as common in women as men.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Effective treatments for panic disorder are available, and research is yielding new, improved therapies that can help most people with panic disorder and other anxiety disorders lead productive, fulfilling lives.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Panic Disorder

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has shown to be a very effective and powerful tool in the successful treatment of panic disorder. CBT addresses the client's thought patterns. It helps a client learn how to cope with their feelings.

Panic Disorder Medication

Research has shown conclusively that certain, specific pharmacological nterventions have been very effective in helping clients with panic disorders.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Stress management techniques and meditation can help people with anxiety disorders calm themselves and may enhance the effects of therapy. There is preliminary evidence that aerobic exercise may have a calming effect. Since caffeine, certain illicit drugs, and even some over-the-counter cold medications can aggravate the symptoms of anxiety disorders, they should be avoided. Check with your physician or pharmacist before taking any additional medications.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Early treatment can often prevent agoraphobia, but people with panic disorder may sometimes go from doctor to doctor for years and visit the emergency room repeatedly before someone correctly diagnoses their condition. This is unfortunate, because panic disorder is one of the most treatable of all the anxiety disorders, responding in most cases to certain kinds of medication or certain kinds of cognitive psychotherapy, which help change thinking patterns that lead to fear and anxiety.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms that may include chest pain, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath, dizziness, or abdominal distress.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic disorder is a real illness that can be successfully treated. It is characterized by sudden attacks of terror, usually accompanied by a pounding heart, sweatiness, weakness, faintness, or dizziness. During these attacks, people with panic disorder may flush or feel chilled; their hands may tingle or feel numb; and they may experience nausea, chest pain, or smothering sensations. Panic attacks usually produce a sense of unreality, a fear of impending doom, or a fear of losing control.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic attacks often begin in late adolescence or early adulthood, but not everyone who experiences panic attacks will develop panic disorder. Many people have just one attack and never have another. The tendency to develop panic attacks appears to be inherited.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic disorder is often accompanied by other serious problems, such as depression, drug abuse, or alcoholism. These conditions need to be treated separately. Symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness or hopelessness, changes in appetite or sleep patterns, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. Most people with depression can be effectively treated with antidepressant medications, certain types of psychotherapy, or a combination of the two.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic attacks can occur at any time, even during sleep. An attack usually peaks within 10 minutes, but some symptoms may last much longer.

Panic Disorder Treatment

People who have full-blown, repeated panic attacks can become very disabled by their condition and should seek treatment before they start to avoid places or situations where panic attacks have occurred. For example, if a panic attack happened in an elevator, someone with panic disorder may develop a fear of elevators that could affect the choice of a job or an apartment, and restrict where that person can seek medical attention or enjoy entertainment.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Some people's lives become so restricted that they avoid normal activities, such as grocery shopping or driving. About one-third become housebound or are able to confront a feared situation only when accompanied by a spouse or other trusted person. When the condition progresses this far, it is called agoraphobia, or fear of open spaces.

Panic Disorder Treatment

Panic attacks are characterized by a fear of certain disaster or a fear of losing control.
sudden and repeated attacks of fear
a feeling of being out of control during a panic attack
an intense worry about when the next attack will happen
a fear or avoidance of places where panic attacks have occurred in the past.

Panic Disorder Treatment

physical symptoms including
pounding heart
- sweating
- weakness
- faintness, or dizziness
- feeling a hot flush or a cold chill
- tingly or numb hands
- chest pain
- feeling nauseous or stomach pain
People with panic disorder have sudden and repeated attacks of fear that last for several minutes, but sometimes symptoms may last longer. These are called panic attacks. Panic attacks are characterized by a fear of certain disaster or a fear of losing control. A person may also have a strong physical reaction. It may feel like having a heart attack. Panic attacks can occur at any time, and many people worry about and dread the possibility of having another attack.

Panic Disorder Treatment

A fear of one's own unexplained physical symptoms is also a symptom of panic disorder. People having panic attacks sometimes believe they are having heart attacks, losing their minds, or on the verge of death. They can't predict when or where an attack will occur, and between episodes many worry intensely and dread the next attack.

Panic Disorder Treatment

People with panic disorder have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. During a panic attack, most likely your heart will pound and you may feel sweaty, weak, faint, or dizzy. Your hands may tingle or feel numb, and you might feel flushed or chilled.

Panic Disorder Treatment

You may have nausea, chest pain or smothering sensations, a sense of unreality, or fear of impending doom or loss of control. A person with panic disorder may become discouraged and feel ashamed because he or she cannot carry out normal routines like going to the grocery store, or driving. Having panic disorder can also interfere with school or work.

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