Panic Obsessive Fear

Panic disorder (panic) has always had high rates in Greece. Today it has even higher percentages, especially in recent years. The main reason for this increase is the fact that in the first year of life there is no fixed care figure for the child or this figure is not available during this critical period. Such a figure is necessary for smooth psychological development and for the formation of a personality that will not be characterized by panic in adult life.

What is panic?

Panic is the expression of a psychological side of man. This side is directly connected to the fear of losing one’s life. Panic often coexists with agoraphobia.

What are the symptoms for panic?

The symptoms of an episode characterized by panic (panic attack) are the following:

1. palpitations
2. a “pounding” heart or
3. acceleration of heart rate
4. sweating
5. tremor or
6. intense fear
7. feeling short of breath or suffocation
8. feeling of suffocation
9. chest pain or discomfort
10. nausea or abdominal discomfort-dizziness,
11. unsteadiness or tendency to faint
12. derealization (feeling unreal) or depersonalization (feeling detached from self)
13. fear of losing control or losing reason
14. fear of death
15. hallucinations (numbness or tingling)
16. chills or hot flashes

When 4 or more appeared suddenly and peaked within 10 minutes of the hour then it is a panic disorder.

 

 

 

How is panic treated?

The main treatment for panic is psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic type therapy more specifically is the most appropriate method. The reason is that this kind of treatment gets to the root which actually gave birth to the problem. In other words through this treatment the person comes to realize the causes and feelings that led to creating panic.

 

What is a phobia – phobias?

Phobias are a pathological entity with significant discomfort to the people who experience it. In many cases they are accompanied by anxiety and depression and involvement with alcohol and in some other cases they are part of a wider syndrome which may also include some kind of heightened suspicion. In some other cases there are fears of attack so these people tend to behave defensively but in any case people with phobias tend to avoid activities which in their opinion are likely to bring them face to face with these fears. Agoraphobia is a common type of phobia and concerns the fear of getting close to other people or simply being with other people in the same space. There are also specific phobias that people prone to phobias develop, such as e.g. the fear of airplanes, etc.

 

Treatment for phobia – phobias

Phobias can be treated with long-term psychotherapy. Brief interventions have temporary effects and are not recommended. It is good for the patient to enter psychotherapy at least once a week so that he can work systematically with the therapist in order to understand over time and gradually become aware of all those repressed feelings and representations that create, maintain and increase the phobic behavior and the general phobic context.

 

The commonalities of phobia, panic and obsession

There is a context here that is common. That which is unconscious, which we do not know, works within us without our understanding. Just as on a physical level we do not understand that our liver, kidneys, etc. are working at the moment. So since this unconscious element that hides emotions is working, it means that it also brings some consequences with it. It will be expressed. But because we do not allow it to express itself, it comes out in the form of either fear when the emotions are intense (phobia), or in the form of panic when it suddenly comes to consciousness, or in the form of a recurring disturbing thought that comes and comes again and again. So phobias, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive behavior to a lesser or greater extent are related to each other and are expressed according to the intensity they contain. But the main thing is that they have the same rationale. Unconscious feelings of childhood that are active within us but we push them away because they hide pain or emotional tension.

 

The unconscious roots

These unconscious roots may not have branches in consciousness, but in psychotherapy we grow these branches and they bear fruit. In other words, the fruits are that we start and see more clearly how we feel inside. We begin to realize why we have shame, guilt and low self-esteem. These are defenses we build to hide the intense desires of childhood. Who are they; But of course it is the jealousy towards the brothers, the sexuality, and the desire to be wanted by the representative of the other sex. There are feelings there that we don’t remember in adult life but continue to act. A woman only goes with married men repeating her desire to snatch the father from her mother. As soon as the married man divorces, she leaves him because she no longer has any interest. These are childhood feelings that enter adult relationships without us realizing it. A man in his relationships is violent towards women repeating his anger towards his mother for going with his father and ignoring him. Every day we see these things in therapy. They come out in the therapeutic relationship over time, and the therapist returns these feelings to the client with a more mature attitude than the one his mother had when she was a child. In conscious life, however, he does not know these things. He is just angry inside with his mother and he repeats it by finding various reasons, various excuses that he believes. The same things happen in all situations, with the difference that they have happened at different developmental stages of the psyche, so they have different consequences. And in phobias, and panic attacks, and obsessive and compulsive behaviors, one tries to control feelings that are inside of one but one is not aware of them. When he begins to learn them, he changes within himself and is directed towards healthier behaviors and relationships. Therapy is therefore an attempt to learn about oneself better by experiencing one’s real feelings in the therapeutic space.

 

 

*Republication of the article is prohibited without the written permission of the author

The process of psychotherapy requires commitment, dedication and is only for those who seriously see that they need to change their lives. If you are thinking of starting this journey, call me at 211 71 51 801 to make an appointment and see together how I can help you

Mixalis Paterakis
Psychologist Psychotherapist
University of Indianapolis – University of Middlesex
I accept by appointment
Karneadou 37 Kolonaki (Next to Evangelismos)
Tel: 211 71 51 801
www.mixalispaterakis.gr
www.psychotherapy.net.gr