And let me tell you, it was a doozy!

I think I can recall about a half dozen or so “panic attacks” throughout my life, the first one being in college, or shortly after graduation.  I put quotations around “panic attack”, because once you understand them, it’s not really “panic”, but that still doesn’t really make them any better.

You see, even with my years of training and experience helping others with their own panic and anxiety, I can still fall victim to them.  And even though I can identify the cause, and walk through a flow chart in my mind of what’s going on, the nature of panic is that you can’t really get a hold of it until it has run it’s course – it’s probably best to prevent them, than to try to work at stopping them in the midst of having one.

The way I see it, (note, I do NOT believe this is DSM-V criteria, but just my clinical and personal observations) a panic attack is a mental/emotional reaction to some physiological situation.  If we don’t get a good, rational handle on the first one, we can easily start to suffer from repeated bouts – almost becoming fearful of the panic; or we panic about panicking.

For me, the “physiological situation” is usually some combination of stress, dehydration (which is HUGE for me), possibly even some sustained poor nutrition, typically combined with the stimulating effects of caffeine or tobacco/nicotine.

The bottom line, my experiences with panic have been predictable and diagnosable.  Too much stress over time sensitizes the several structures in the brain – almost leaving a slow drip of adrenaline, ready to go into overdrive.  Dehydration from physical activity and augmented by too much caffeine throughout the day, leaves us sensitive to these adrenal ‘hiccups’.  Poor nutrition – for me, usually due to laziness in food prep and ordering from too many drive through windows, does not provide for the replenishment of necessary neurotransmitters and hormones that our brain and bodies need to self-regulate.  And then combine again with foreign stimulants – those of you who know me know that I usually have coffee with arms reach throughout the day up until 6pm, usually way too much; and in my youth I was a prolific consumer of tobacco and nicotine products; today I opt for more occasional use of “finer” tobacco like cigars or a pipe (how deeply Freud-like, I know) but even those can have their negative impact.

Panic attacks – at least ones like this – have a predictable and preventable course.  That is, if you catch the first one and prevent it from becoming a recurring fear of panic attack – that is when a difficult cycle can begin, that needs a little more work to interrupt.  That being said, it can often be difficult to catch the causal factors of that first one – sometimes a medical check-up can be helpful.  You would want to make sure it isn’t something internal like high blood pressure or some kind of heart arrhythmia or other physiological cause.

All this to say, as the title of this article states – even therapists have panic attacks.  Even therapists have “issues” – we just spent a little bit more time studying how to figure them out and help heal them.  Panic, anxiety, stress, and even depression – among the myriad issues the human race now struggles with – are among some of the most frequently studied, easily defined, and thoroughly treatable.  That isn’t to say it feels easy when you are in the midst of one of these struggles…  Sometimes it feels utterly impossible to get out of it – as if you might die before you can find your way out.  I know, I was there just a few hours ago.

But there is always hope.  Sometimes it just takes time.  Sometimes it helps to have a trusted guide, mentor, or even therapist.  But there is a way out of it.  I hope you find your way out.

And, as always, if you would like some help, I’m happy to do so.  Right now, I need to go rehydrate, de-stress, and get my nutrition figured out.

Take care,

Dan