PANIC DISORDER AND ANTICIPATORY ANXIETY

ANTICIPATORY ANXIETY AND PANIC DISORDER
What is Anticipatory Disorder
According to Merriam,Wedber's Online Dictionary, acticcipation is a “visualizaation of a future event or state.” If you have panic disorder (PD), you may find yourself anticipating many life eveents. Driving to work, going into a store, attending a social gathering and many other activities may be a daily focus of your anticipation. Before panic, you probably didn't give much thought to any of these common events. But now, anticipation may cause you to feel anxious and interfere with your ability to fully function in your everyday life. This is often called “anticipatory anxiety.”
Normal vs. Problem Anticipatory Anxiety
An infinite number of human experiences cause normal anticipatory anxiety. With panic disorder, thoughts are generally focused on worrying about having a panic attack in a situation that will result in embarrassment, extreme comfort, a heart attack or even worse. If you have PD, you are probably very familiar with “what if” worries. Perhaps yours are similar to these:
What I have a panic attack and drive my car into a ditch?
What if I start to panic in the store and embarrass myself with some bizarre behavior?
What if, while eating at a restaurant, I can't swallow and start choking on my food?
What if I take a walk around the block and start to panic and can't get back home?
This kind of thinking causes a lot of anticipatory anxiety that can lead to avoiding certain activities. Ths anxiety may be so intense that it causes a condition called agoraphobia.
Tips to Cope With Anticipatory Anxiety
Learn and practice relaxation techniques
By learning and practicing relaxation techniques, you will be able to reduce your level of anticipatory anxiety. You may even be able to defuse a panic attack in the making. Some techniques that may be helpful include:
Deep breathing
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Guided Imagery
Meditation
Journaling
Get professional help if you can't get your anxiety under control.
A variety of professionals are able to help you with problem anticipatory anxiety. Some of the treatments they may be able to provide include:
Cognitive-behavior therapy to help you identify and change damaging behaviors and thought processes that are contributing to your anxiety.
Panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy to help you become aware of unconscious conflicts and defense mechanisms that reinforce your anxiety.
Medications, such as the class of antidepressants known as selective serontin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs and anti-anxiety drugs known as Benzodiazepines, to relieve some of your anxiety and panic symptoms.
Http://panicdisorder.about.com/od/symptoms/a/anticianxiety.htm?nl=l