How Stress Can Trigger Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are very common. They are not a sign of some kind of mental or physical illness, but they are directly related to cumulative stress – a kind of stress which builds up unnoticed over months or years. This is why for most people the first panic attack comes as a complete surprise.

Very few people experience just one single panic attack. In most cases panic attacks tend to recur, seemingly without any reason. Repeated panic attacks lower your self-esteem, break your confidence and crush the faith you had in yourself. Your life begins to be dominated by the ever-present fear of experiencing another panic attack. All the things which you once believed in and hoped to achieve suddenly may become very distant and unreachable.

If you suffer from panic attacks my aim in therapy is first to teach you simple techniques which can help you to take control over panic attacks and so to lose fear of panic attacks.

Secondly, working together I can help you to identify and address the underlying stress which led to panic attacks. For some people stress can arise from the difficulties in relationships, or from work problems, or for many people stress arises when their deeper need for self-realization has for some reason been obstructed.