Kid in a Candy Store: How to Choose?
Self help for panic attacks means very different things to different people. To one person it may refer to simply reading a book about panic attacks. To another it may involve buying a video with a workbook. There are even some who think of self help for panic attacks as paper-and-pencil homework assigned between therapy sessions. However, a full-scale program of self help for panic attacks is a more comprehensive approach, usually multimedia in format.
Tips for Evaluating Programs of Self Help for Panic Attacks
But if you find a program of self help for panic attacks, how can you evaluate it? Here are a few guidelines. A program of self help for panic attacks should contain three aspects or components. First, there should be a module of good solid information about anxiety and panic. Second, the program should contain a practical approach to building specific skills that have been proven to overcome symptoms of anxiety attacks. Third, there should be tools that support the skills. A hammer is the tool that supports the skill of pounding a nail without bending it.
Information Avalanche or Just Enough?
Let’s examine each of these. A program of self help for panic attacks must contain a presentation of the essential facts to know about panic and anxiety. If you are a circus trainer you don’t need to know everything about lions, but there are specific facts that you must know if you are going to tame a lion effectively and safely. It’s the same with getting the facts about panic attacks. The trick is to learn the essentials without getting bogged down with information that you really don’t need to know at the beginning.
The Skills to “Take Care of” Panic the Way James Bond Takes Care of the Bad Guys
While good information is important, one must have the skills to know what to do with that information. In learning how to tackle panic attacks it is essential to acquire simple skills such as how to monitor and quantify your anxiety level, how to relax specific areas of the body, how to recognize the phases of a panic attacks so that you can have good timing for using each skill. A program of self help for panic attacks must have a realistic, practical method to help people to acquire a new skill set.
If I Had a Hammer…
You can have all the skills needed to build a house, but if you don’t have tools the skills don’t get you anywhere. You have to have a hammer… the right hammer for the job. Hand in hand with learning new skills, it is necessary to have tools that empower a person to use new skills effectively. A program of self help for panic attacks should strike a balance between providing enough tools to conquer panic attacks without overwhelming the learner. If you search online for programs of self help for panic attacks you can use these tips to make a preliminary judgment about a program just by reading descriptions of the program or promotional literature before you purchase it.
