In today’s video I’m going to share with
you 5 essential, little-known scientific-facts and insights that you absolutely must know
about, if you want to quickly and effectively treat your panic attacks. I’m also going to give you 2 unique, counterintuitive
techniques, that have BOTH been scientifically proven to help treat anxiety and to treat
panic disorder — so you can use these techniques to make a significant, positive difference
in your life, today. Hi, I’m Michael Norman, and as scientist
and paid-on-results anxiety specialist with clients from over 103 countries around the
world, I’ve witnessed first hand how panic attacks and panic disorder, have impacted
the lives of even the strongest, bravest people.
Whether someone’s a celebrity, a highly-respected
doctor, a CEO, whether they’re a student, a stay at home mum, or anyone else, panic
doesn’t discriminate. Almost 1 in 3 people will experience a panic
attack in their life-time, and I’ve been through it too. Thankfully though, there’s some good news
to this story, because thanks to the last 3 decades of scientific research, panic is
now one of most treatable issues there is, if you get the right scientifically grounded
help, and that’s what this video is all about.
Now, years ago Albert Einstein wisely pointed
out: “If I were given one hour to save the world,
I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute solving it.” This is especially true when it comes to successfully
treating the panic attacks you’ve had, because, as you’ll soon discover for yourself, once
you have an accurate understanding of what’s been happening to you, how panic really works,
and what’s been keeping it in your life, surprisingly, the solution suddenly becomes
much clearer, as does the path back to a normal, panic-free life.
So with all of this in mind, let’s move
onto the first counterintuitive fact, FACT 1: The Term “Panic Attack” Is Not
Only Completely Misleading, It Can Actually Make It More Difficult To Recover. Words carry a lot of power. They can mislead
us, they can deceive us, they can send us in the wrong direction, down the wrong path,
or they can illuminate deeper truths, show us where to go, and help us to find our way
home. And knowing this is true, I hope it’s obvious
why I consider it so very important, that you know, that a panic attack is absolutely
NOT an “attack”. That phrase is totally misleading, and as
you’ll understand before you finish this video, it can create a mindset that make things
much worse, making it much harder to successfully treat panic. If we really care about solving your problem
once and for all, then, obviously, we really care about the truth, and the overwhelming
scientific evidence is that every panic attack you’ve ever had, was not an attack at all,
but surprisingly, it was just an innocent, very well-intended, over-protective MISTAKE.
To explain this more, I’m going to share
with you a short clip from my “Panic Free TV Foundation” video series, which presents
a simple but important thought-experiment, Which of these two smoke alarms would you
prefer to have protecting you in your home? Would you prefer to have smoke alarm that
sometimes FAILS to go off, and stays silent, even though there’s a deadly fire in your
house? Or, would you prefer to have a smoke alarm
that never misses a real fire, but occasionally goes off when you burn the toast, even though
there is no danger, and everything is actually fine? Now of course, we’d all prefer to have a
perfect smoke alarm system, that never make any mistakes — but the reality is, we live
in complex and often ambiguous world. And so if you had to choose between one of
these two options, what would you chose? An under-sensitive smoke alarm that could
miss a real fire and kill you? Or an over-sensitive smoke alarm that occasionally
has unpleasant, noisy false alarms, but never misses a real fire, and always keeps you safe? It’s a simple answer, isn’t it.
When it comes to our survival, to our LIFE,
it’s better to have an alarm system that errs on the side of safety, even if that means,
we sometimes get false alarms. So what does this have to do with panic? Well, "panic attacks" are nothing more than
false alarms of our over-protective, life-saving fear systems. And while it probably hasn’t felt that way
for you in the past, the truth is that a panic "attack" is just a terrifying, overwhelming,
over-protective MISTAKE. It’s a mistake, that ironically, is motivated
by your brain’s #1 priority in life — to keep you safe. Panic attacks are our brain and body, following
the same “better safe than sorry” philosophy, that every good smoke detector system uses. And it’s far healthier, in fact it’s optimal,
to have a fear system that is biased to be over-sensitive and to occasionally give us
false alarms, than it is to have an under-sensitive system, that could miss real danger, that
could kill us. So a panic attack is JUST an over-protective
mistake. The only real problem, and it’s a big one,
is that it’s a terrifying mistake.
It’s a mistake that can leave us feeling
exposed, vulnerable, and unsafe. Even though no one dies from a panic attack,
and even though panic could never ever make anyone truly go crazy, the false alarm
of a panic attack often creates a very powerful ILLUSION, that these things could happen. And that’s why I really believe, that you
are incredibly, So again, a panic attack is NOT an “attack”. Instead, it’s a false alarm. It’s a mistaken effort to protect you, from
a danger that’s not there.
Unfortunately, the reason why it’s so scary,
the reason why it’s one of the most horrible experiences anyone could ever go through,
is because a false alarm sounds the same as a real alarm. And with a panic false alarm,
because we so often don’t know what’s going on, the confusion and uncertainty can
make everything even more alarming. And that’s why it’s so very important
you know about fact #2. Believe it or not, all the strange and scary
symptoms you’ve had because of panic, especially the ones that seem the most dangerous,
all they really are, are just harmless byproducts, of a false alarm. Fortunately, thanks to a lot of research,
we know how a false alarm alone, can create them, We know they can’t kill you, We know they can’t make you truly go crazy, And we know that, reassuringly, as you learn
about this, it can help you immediately feel safer and more secure. Now, since we have a lot to cover in this
video, I’m not going to go into the details here, even though this is a very important
topic.
Since I cover this in depth in my free “Panic
Free TV Foundation Series”, if you want to learn more, as I recommend you do, then
you’ll find what you’re looking for when you get to episode 2 of my Foundation Series. Again, my it’s completely free, at least
at the moment, so you can watch it by visiting www.PanicFree.TV, or by clicking YouTube information
icon in the top right hand corner of this video. Okay let’s move on to, FACT 3: There is the core, hidden pattern
behind every panic false alarm you’ve ever had , and as you’ll soon see, this pattern reveals
to us, the fastest, most effective, most direct path, back to a normal, panic-free life. If you’ve ever been told that you have panic
disorder, even though I’m not at all a fan of that label at all, this is the core
pattern we want to shift together, so that you can finally be 100% panic-free.
To explain more, here’s another short clip
from my foundation series, A panic attack happens when anxiety creates
body sensations and anxious thoughts, And, because our brain has mistakenly learnt
to fear those body sensations or thoughts, it creates even more anxiety. That increased anxiety then creates even MORE
body sensations and thoughts, and around the cycle people go. I call this The Panic Pattern, because it’s
THE pattern behind every scary false alarm. It’s a HARMLESS vicious cycle, that can
escalate, into a full fight/flight response. So, let me share with you one of the most
common examples of this pattern, because it helps illustrate this, more clearly. Since anxiety makes everyone’s heart beat
a little faster, if something happens in our lives that makes us fearful or anxious enough,
naturally our heart will speed up.
Again, this is a completely natural and healthy
response that we all have. But if someone is scared of that, if they’re
scared of having a faster heart beat, then anytime they get anxious enough, for whatever
reason, it can trigger The Panic Pattern. Anxiety would make their heart beat faster,
and a faster heart beat would make them more anxious, which would further increases their
heart beat, and a harmless, but scary vicious cycle, would ensue. This is the core pattern behind every panic
false alarm. And it can work if people fear a faster heart
beat, or any other anxiety-related body sensation, that they happen to be scared of. Again, a panic false alarm happens when anxiety
creates body sensations and anxious thoughts, and, because our brain has mistakenly learnt
to fear those body sensations and thoughts, that creates even more anxiety. And that increased anxiety then creates even
MORE body sensations and thoughts, and around the cycle we go. Now you might be asking: what’s the deal
with panic that’s triggered by external situations — like driving, or flying, shopping,
leaving the house, or other things? Why does that happen? Well, if it happens, it’s because those
external situations have become associated with anxiety, and so they feed right into
The Panic Pattern.
Anything that triggers enough anxiety to create
a feared body sensation, can trigger the whole vicious cycle, and therefore a panic attack. Now, there are several reasons why understanding
“The Panic Pattern” is so important — the most important by far, is that it reveals
to us the fastest, most effective, most direct path, back to a normal, panic-free life. I’ll talk about this more in just a moment,
but first, it’s essential we cover fact #4 Following commonsense tends to backfire, keeps
people stuck, and reinforces The Panic Pattern If you’ve struggled to find the answers
you need, then please know, it’s definitely NOT your fault.
Even though panic is one of the most treatable
issues there is, unfortunately it’s also one of the most counterintuitive. What seems as if it SHOULD work with panic
DOESN’T. And what DOES work tends to fly in the face
of commonsense. There are several important examples of this,
but for now, in this video, I’m just going to mention one very, very briefly, And that example of how commonsense tends
to backfire with panic, is trying to fight it Trying to stop, suppress, or fight back against
panic is one of the most natural responses in the world. Any sensible, intelligent person would try
to do it, But unfortunately, as a huge amount of research
shows, when it comes to panic what we resist doesn’t just persist, unfortunately, it
often becomes stronger, more resilient, and more enduring. When we try and fight panic, it typically
leads to more intense, more enduring panic-related body-sensations and thoughts, not less. In the short-term this fuels to “The Panic
Pattern”, and in the long-term it increases the chance of further, frequent, ongoing false
alarms.
While I explain this in depth in my foundation
series, I hope you can now appreciate yet another reason why I am definitely not a fan
of the term “panic attack”. When people are mislead into believing that
panic is an “attack”, or a “trick”, or a “monster”, or any other unhelpful,
conflict based metaphor, then it’s only natural that they’d try and fight it, which
unfortunately doesn’t only NOT help, it actively makes the situation worse. Believe it or not, even doing absolutely NOTHING,
is a far more effective strategy than trying to fight panic, and if that statement seem
a little crazy to you, then consider that doing essentially nothing, was a key part
of a pioneering approach to panic, developed my compatriot Claire Weekes, more than 60
years old.
STRATEGY #1 Weekes was an Australian doctor, and she was
the pioneer of acceptance-based approaches for panic and anxiety, which are so common
today. She urged people not to try and fight panic,
but instead, to utterly accept it, to “float” through it, to use her words, and to let time
pass, until it goes away. How could this be helpful? Well, if we go back to the scene I you showed
earlier in this video, with burning toast, when we try to fight a false alarm, it’s
like pushing that toast back into the toaster, and turning that toaster up.
Even though it’s
still just burning toast, it leads to much more smoke, and as a result, a much longer
false alarm. However, when we utterly accept a false alarm,
it’s like turning that toaster off. Even though the smoke may linger for a while, if
you let time pass as Weekes used to say, the smoke WILL clear, and things will more
quickly return to normal. Now, obviously, I’ll well aware that trying
to accept a false alarm is far, far easier said than done — and this is why acceptance-based
approaches take time and practice to work.
Weekes was very honest about this, and she
urged people to be realistic, so they would stick with the process, even through setbacks. In her own words, if you use an acceptance-based
approach, “don’t count the days, don’t count the
months, let time pass” Because, “even with compete acceptance, it takes
about 2 months to desensitise the body” While this has been shown to be true for all
acceptance-based approaches scientifically studied, even though acceptance is a slow
process, it does help, if people stick with it. And for the 1960’s accepting panic and anxiety
was a revolutionary idea, which helped hundreds of thousands of people, who way back, at that
point in history, had little else that worked. Now, since were covering such an important
topic here, that of NOT fighting panic, I want to share a second, even more useful strategy,
one that you can use to actually stop a false alarm, if you have one. This is strategy #2 Now, before I share this strategy with you,
I need to warn you upfront, that when I explain it you, you’ll probably think it’s totally
crazy. That’s totally ok, but also keep in mind
that we know from research, that this counterintuitive strategy is more effective than many of the
most commonly used approaches to treating panic.
It’s is more effective than breathing exercises. It’s more effective than relaxation techniques. And it’s more effective than cognitive approaches
— where someone tries to use logic to dismiss, talk back to, or “correct” anxious thoughts. What’s this “crazy” strategy that can
actually help? It’s using a paradoxical approach where,
if you get a false alarm, instead of trying to fight it, you VOLUNTARILY try to make it
stronger and last longer. Now, how could such a “crazy” approach
ever work? Well there are several reasons beyond the
scope of this video, but to give you just one reason here, I’d like you to consider
this: Have you ever tried to force yourself to fall
asleep, but as a result, you found yourself being more awake? Have you ever tried so hard to forget something,
that you ending up thinking about it even more? Or have you’ve ever tried to force yourself
to be attracted to someone you didn’t have ANY feelings for, and, as a consequence, you
became even more aware that person wasn’t right for you.
If you’ve ever had one of these experiences,
then you might appreciate that, when we try to force an involuntary, automatic, mental
or emotional process, sometimes all that effort backfires, and it inhibits that very process. This is something we can use to our advantage
with panic, and it’s why, when I first meet a new client, if they’re having a false
alarm because they’ve left their comfort zone even to talk to me, I never ask them
to relax. Instead, very often, I ask them to voluntarily
make the false alarm a LOT bigger.
I ask them to voluntarily give me the biggest
false alarm they’ve ever had. And what happens universally, is they can’t. Paradoxically, it relaxes them. Now, obviously, when I work with clients 1-on-1
there is a unique art and skill to making sure this works optimally for each individual,
but the use of paradoxical approaches like this, isn’t something I invented. Famous therapists like Alfred Adler, Victor
Frankl and Milton Erickson, as far back as 90 to 100 years ago, EACH independently discovered
that instead of trying to fight with a problem, sometimes you get far better results by, paradoxically,
trying to encouraging it. When done correctly, even with self-application,
even in a basic form as I’m sharing with you here, this approach has been shown to
be a useful first step for helping people with panic — one that, again, is more effective
than breathing exercises, more effective than relaxation techniques, and more effective
than trying to use logic to debate, talk-back to, or change anxious thoughts.
Again, the approach is, if you get a false
alarm, instead of trying to fight it, you voluntarily try as hard as you can to FORCE
IT, trying with all your willpower, to compel it to become the biggest, longest lasting
false alarm you’ve ever had, as fast as it can. Now, as useful as this approach can be as
a first step, obviously it’s just that, a first step. It’s a tool to help people realise that
panic doesn’t work the way you think it does, and that, paradoxically, you can get
much more control when you don’t follow commonsense.
Now, I want to shift mindsets and very briefly
introduce you to a totally different orientation to treating panic. Because, obviously, as nice as it is to have
ways to accept, cope with, or even stop a false alarm after it happens, obviously, approaches
like that are highly reactive. You have to remember what to do, You have to be able to consciously apply that
strategy in the heat of the moment, which often isn’t easy, And worst of all, even if you have a really
good technique that works, you’ve still had to go through the unpleasant experience
of having your day interrupted by a false alarm Obviously, none of that is optimal at all. So what’s the solution? Well, I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying
that prevention is better than cure, and obviously, what’s far more useful and far more effective,
is if we can help you automatically prevent future false alarms, so they never even happen
in the first place. Because, for me, “Panic Free" is NOT about coping better
with false alarms, because if you have to cope with or accept false alarms, that means
you still get them.
“Panic Free” doesn’t even mean that
you’re able to immediately stop a false alarm, as soon as it begins — because, at
best, that's just a good start. What "Panic Free" really means is that panic
has truly become a total non-issue for you, in your life. It means you're naturally and effortlessly,
as panic-free, care-free and “normal”, as anyone else you know, without you having
to even think about it. And what’s the fastest, most effective way
to help you reach the point where you’re truly panic free? Well that leads us into fact #5 FACT 5: We Can Automatically Prevent Future
False Alarms, By Quickly Ending “The Panic Pattern” Whether you’ve had just a few false alarms
so far, whether you’ve had them for years or even decades, or whether you’ve been
diagnosed as having panic disorder, if we can change your automatic responses
so that instead of feeling anxious you’re AUTOMATICALLY calm, relaxed, and secure in
response to the very triggers that triggered “The Panic Pattern” for you in the past,
then there can’t be a vicious cycle, and you won’t be able to panic.
This is the focus of all my work, and obviously,
if you like this video and you want more of my help, then obviously I have so much more
to share with you. While you’ll notice I have a range of resources
on my website, including ways you can work with me personally, I recommend you start
first with my free foundation series, which goes into everything we’ve talked about
here, plus a lot more, in much more detail. Again, my foundation series is totally free
at the moment, and you can watch the first episode in full right now by clicking the
link in the description, by visiting my website at www.panicfree.tv, or by clicking the information
icon in the top right hand corner of this video. Thousands of people, from all walks of life,
have gone through my foundation series, and since so many of them have openly said that
it’s made a real, positive difference in their lives, I think you’ll discover too,
when you watch it for yourself, that it also makes a real, positive difference for you. I hope this video has obviously been helpful
for you, and if it has then please leave me a comment below, so that I know, you’d like
me to make more videos, like this video here on YouTube.
Also, if you’d like be immediately notified
as soon as I publish new, helpful videos, like this video here, then obviously subscribe
to my YouTube channel and automatically, this will happen. Remember, panic is one of the most treatable
issues there is, if you get the right scientifically grounded help. You are not alone, and not matter what you’ve
been through, there’s so much we can do to help make an immediate positive difference
in your life. Thank you so much for watching. I hope again
that this video was incredibly useful for you. I’m Michael Norman, and this has been
another episode of Panic Free TV.
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