i just found this board because i'm experiencing a resurgence of panic attacks (which led to a visit to the ER) in the last few months and now i'm kicking around on the interweb trying to find a "cure."
i downloaded some program a while a go and it helped some and i've been looking at the linden method as a possibility too. the reason is that i've got an appointment with a CBT this coming thursday. 60 minutes = $210. i'm trying to find the answer first.
one thing i've just read on this board in and amongst the linden method threads is the distinction people are making between anxiety and panic. this makes a lot of sense to me. "anxiety" can create benign sensations that don't hurt you (but are troublesome, nonetheless) and there is little you can do about them but accept them...like a sore neck, or a bad headache. "panic," , is what you think about those sensations.
so the very simple, but difficult trick is to allow the sensations to occur without fearing them. the sensations themselves won't do anything to you, they come and they go. but the fear of them is the scary part and that fear only feeds more anxiety sensations.
i have also found that identifying those sensations on a scale of 1-10 helps too. this, for me, breaks the sensations down in manageable and predictable chunks. levels 1-3 are physical sensations/agitations/chest tightness, levels 4-7 are those thoughts that race and breed confusion and the sense that something terrible is happening, and 8-10 are things like narrowing vision, hyperventilation, tingling in the face and extremities.
now armed with the distinction between anxiety and panic, i can see that even up to a level 10, those are just sensations of anxiety. nothing in that list will kill you and at the very least, nothing in that list has led to the thing i fear (which i don't even know what that is...LOL).
so maybe, for now, my work is telling myself that the sensations won't hurt me. seeing the sensations like i see other uncomfortable sensations and just not freak out about them.
one last thing...i play the piano in a church and a couple of weeks ago i had a HUGE panic attack while i was playing a hymn. in the midst of my personal hades, i didn't miss a note. my hands kept going, i kept reading the music, but i was in abject terror. now what does that tell you about the situation?
the sensations are freakish and scary, but they aren't fatal...they aren't even all that debilitating.
hey, if nothing else, we all get to know first hand the power of our brains.
just my .02
