HOW YOUR BRAIN BECOMES SCARED

The treatment for anxiety and panic is paradoxical. You do the opposite of what feels natural. You step into the fear or face it instead of moving away or avoiding it. If you resist feeling anxious or try to prevent a panic attack, your anxiety and panic only worsen. Panic is the fear of fear symptoms in your body. You will no longer have panic disorder when you stop fearing those symptoms. What do you do? You do the opposite. You F.A.C.E. Fear without avoiding it or doing things to make yourself feel safe or calm down. Using the F.A.C.E. Fear method will help you move through high anxiety episodes or panic attacks with an attitude and behaviors that give your brain the right messages of safety learning. The F.A.C.E. fear method is an incidental, in-the-moment exposure technique for panic attacks. Use F.A.C.E. Fear at the moment high anxiety or panic shows up. Using the F.A.C.E. Fear method to move through panic episodes and eliminate your avoidance and safety behaviors is an effective method to recover from panic disorder. It can be used alone or with Interoceptive, sensitivity-reduction training when treating panic disorder. The following is an explanation of each stage of the F.A.C.E. Fear method: F: F.A.C.E. your fear of panic symptoms with an attitude of willingness. Whether your anxiety or panic came out of the blue or built up, have an attitude of willingness and openness to the physical and emotional symptoms and sensations. A: Adopt an attitude of Allowing Anxiety and panic symptoms to be there. Allow the physical sensations to wash over you. For example, you might notice your heart rate increase, palpitations or difficulty breathing, throat tightness, dizziness, feelings of digestive discomfort, the urge to urinate, sweating, tingling, a rush of adrenaline, a hot flash or cooling sensation, etc. You are dropping the resistance and the struggle. Instead, you surrender to the symptoms with no reaction or white-knuckling. You are just allowing the physical symptoms and sensations to drift over you. You are welcoming the symptoms and observing them without judgment. C: Commit to staying in it and Coach yourself like you would coach a young child that was afraid to try something new. Coaching statements like, “I’ve got this! I’m doing it!” You are allowing that wave of anxiety to wash over you. E: Embrace the experience with encouragement and praise afterward.

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If you’re intuned with your body it will tell you what or who makes you feel unsafe.