MENTAL HEALTH:
We recommend these books and we frequently refer to them in our work
with clients
Pocono Therapeutic Services
CONTACT US!
Cognitive Therapy is an
effective course of
treatment. You must
first change your
thoughts in order to
change your emotions.
        Your Unique Way of Thinking May be Disturbing You
                                         By Mike Sucro

It is not reality that disturbs you (makes us angry, nervous or depressed),
but your interpretation of reality that disturbs you.

Reality is the data your eyes and ears collect about a person, situation or
event. Your eyes and ears don’t see or hear, it is your mind that organizes
the data which your eyes and ears have collected, to create a mental
picture. It is from this mental picture that you create emotions and often act
on these emotions.

When you form thoughts about a person, situation or event, these thoughts
are often distorted due to the things you add to the thoughts that are based
on your own unique interpretation.

The term “disturbing” means feeling negative emotions/feelings. You believe
that what you see or hear causes you to experience negative emotions. The
primary negative emotions, or “The Big 4,” are anxiety, depression, anger
and guilt. When you believe or ‘think’ something you see or hear has
caused you anxiety, depression, anger or guilt, rest assured is not just what
you see/hear, but also what you add to the mix.

It is your interpretation of outside events that determines the emotions you
feel and, most importantly, the intensity, frequency and duration of those
emotions. It is important to realize that your interpretation or "self-talk" is
unique and exclusive to you. No one else in the world interprets
events/situations/people exactly as you do.

Your interpretations are composed of thoughts, beliefs, memories, desires,
experiences and numerous other ingredients. But, simply put, interpretations
are thoughts – your thoughts- about what you see and hear in your reality.
It is your thoughts that create positive or negative emotions. Therefore, it is
not the events/situations/people in reality that causes you to experience
disturbing emotions, but your thoughts about reality that cause these
emotions. We manufacture emotions, not reality.

By changing your thoughts about what you see and hear you can greatly
reduce the intensity, frequency and duration of any negative emotions you
might experience. Often you cannot change reality and you can never
change people. But you can change your interpretations of
events/situations/people, thus making it easier to cope. Sometimes this all
you can do!

  "When our thoughts have been uplifted, progressive, constructive,
courageous, noble, kind or in any other way desirable, we have set in
motion vibrations which bring about certain results. When our thought is
filled with envy, hatred, jealousy, criticism or any of the thousand and one
other forms of discord, certain vibrations have been set in motion which
brings about certain other results of a different nature and each of these
rates of vibrations, if kept up, crystallizes in form. In the first case the
result is mental, moral and physical health, and in the second case discord,
disharmony and disease ." (Charles Haanel, Master Key system)
                                      Working with Panic
                                          by Beth Sucro

Your first instinct in alleviating panic disorder is to keep the attacks “at
bay” through deep breathing, relaxation, and identification of the triggers.
All of these things will not only NOT alleviate symptoms, but may
exacerbate them.

The first thing you need to understand is the physiology of panic. People
with panic disorder are by their very nature (alias chemical make-up!)
predisposed to anxiety. In other words they have an easily “misfired”
adrenal gland! This will usually manifest in subtle non-disruptive ways.

However, studies reveal that something like 85% of first time panic
attacks follow an event (anywhere from a few days to a few months
after the event) that is traumatic to them on some level. This could be a
death or near death of someone they know or love, illness of a family
member (even a pet) natural disaster, etc. Usually, you “get through” the
event, seemingly without too much trouble. The panic attack can be
delayed and is not often recognized as connected to the precipitating
event.

So, although it is important to identify the event that may have triggered
the attack, focusing on avoidance of danger or assuring your safety is
basically useless. (When you’re anxiety prone, danger can be found
anywhere, you’ll never get ahead of this). You need to come to terms
with the fact that bad things do happen, it’s part of being alive. An
analogy I like to use is that panic is like a monster that you have to invite
in, have it sit down on your lap and get to know intimately! (this is done
by dissecting the monster and seeing what makes it “tick”) The fear of
having another panic attack is what keeps the client panicky!!! Once you
can come to terms with the monster, it becomes easier to manage.

So now what? As I noted relaxation and deep breathing may help with
anxiety, but not with panic attacks. In fact (and I found this out the hard
way) prescribing deep breathing to someone with panic disorder almost
always results in hyperventilation, which in turn leads to thoughts of
“there’s REALLY some thing wrong with me” and a trip to the local
emergency room! The trick with panic disorder is that the physiology of
it takes over very quickly and takes on a life of it’s own.

My clients report a wide variety of somatic complaints, including vertigo,
heart palpitations, dizziness, shooting pains in chest, and choking
sensations (to name a few). You CANNOT believe it’s coming from
your head because your body’s telling you otherwise. If you believe
panic comes from thoughts, try telling that to someone who wakes out
of a deep sleep in panic - the adrenal gland never sleeps!

To help explain the physiology of panic disorder, it’s helpful to
understand the purpose of the anxiety producing adrenal gland. Back in
the days of the neanderthal, adrenaline served a very useful purpose-
keeping us alive. The “flight or fight” response is courtesy of the adrenal
gland and saved many an early homosapian from death via saber-toothed
tiger! Fast forward several million years, the adrenal gland still serves it’s
purpose, but sometimes kicks into high gear when not in a true life or
death situation. For people with panic disorder, their belief that they are
basically safe has been deeply shaken (by what ever traumatic event first
triggered their attacks).

The world suddenly seems sinister, threatening. You believe that, despite
reassurances from others, you really aren’t safe, or sane, or healthy,
depending on the situation. Again, the goal is not to prove there is nothing
to fear, (because no one can prove that), but rather is to help the you
understand that your body is actually just doing it’s job, (responding to
perceived threats to it’s safety). It’s your trigger happy adrenal gland that
has helped create the “monster”. Your need to get control of, and
befriend “the monster”, dis-empowers it, and removes the “fear of the
fear”, ultimately disengaging the cycle of panic.