Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a classification of psychotherapy encompassing several approaches. In accordance with its name, the purpose of this therapy is to change how your mind responds to certain stimuli. Some approaches under it focus more on physical responses, others have a complete focus on thoughts, known as cognitive restructuring. Both approaches have been shown to work well for those who experience anxiety attacks.
To identify mental responses, in most forms of CBT the patient will be asked to journal their thoughts and feelings when they feel significantly stressed or overwhelmed. When getting a real look at what happens behind the curtains, it is then possible to question why they have such thoughts and what associations lead to them. Disempowering associations can then be weeded out.
It can also help just to know what is going on as once the mystery is taken out of the symptoms they aren't as scary anymore. It can remove the victim mindset and move you to focus more on the solution.
Exposure therapy is a type of therapy under CBT that is often used against anxiety attacks. When repeatedly exposed to anything, a person can get used to it. Usually the patient will be exposed to a diluted portion of the fear and taught how to view it and deal with it constructively. This builds up gradually until the fear is gone. Often those who experience anxiety attacks will begin to avoid stressful situations, but this merely reinforces the fear.
In many cases, a person will develop a fear of the anxiety attacks themselves. As a result the attacks grow even more intense and occur more frequently. When this is a problem, you must not only learn how to overcome the original fear, but this one as well.
There are a few types of exposure therapy, which should be used is based on where the primary fears lie. If you focus on and worry about a particular physical response during the attacks, the physical exposure can help you to deal with this. It simulates or matches the reaction in a controlled environment until a new association is created. A racing heart or breathing difficulties are common candidates for physical exposure.
There is also the imagined exposure. Sometimes the fear can be too overwhelming to face directly. Visualizing the exposure is an alternative. During this visualization, you should see yourself handling the situation calmly and decisively. The idea is to create a picture of who you want to be and how that person will act. This works by gradually creating new associations and guiding your subconscious to make this real.
The subconscious mind is guided almost entirely by images. It relates better to things that it can make tangible. A critical point to note is that only your conscious mind can distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. As a result, these visualizations will work just as well for your subconscious mind over time as the real thing would.
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