Panic Disorder: You are Not Alone
Patrick Tully helps those who suffer from panic and knows that panic disorder is extremely uncomfortable. Patrick Tully is a gay LA therapist and conducts therapy in Los Angeles as well as Culver City. Patrick also is known for therapy in Pasadena as well as all over California as his license covers the entire state. Patrick can help with therapy in Florida and therapy in Texas and consult in any state.
Patrick Tully has multiple specialties, including LGBTQ Affirmative therapy for the gay and LGBTQ+ community.
Panic disorder has greater disparity amongst the LGBTQ+ community, and a peer-reviewed study by Jeffrey Cohen and other authors, Anxiety and Related Disorders and Concealment in LGBTQ+ Populations by Jeffrey Cohen and others stated how panic disorder is experienced at a significantly higher level in the LGBTQ+ community compared with the rest of the population. Because panic disorder is so high in LGBTQ+ populations, it leads to gay, lesbian, bisexual and other sexual and gender minority individuals hiding their identities from other people. This is extremely tragic that people need to do this to try to feel better to fit into our still heteronormative (seeing “straight” as the norm) society. We need to do much better about seeing different gender identities and sexual orientations as normal on both the conscious and unconscious levels, and this means examining even bias that we all may not be aware of, both within and outside the LGBTQ+ community.
Patrick Tully uses CBT, EMDR, DBT, and evidence-based collaborative tools to help all his clients feel better and heard in their sessions. He believes the past and present can play a role as well (psychodynamic), and often combines modalities depending on what the individual needs.
In this blog post, panic disorder is the specific condition that is examined and expanded upon.
Understanding Panic Disorder
Unexpected and repeated panic attacks that are extremely uncomfortable and uneasy to come back from are the norm in people who have panic disorder. It is far more severe than people who simply suffer from panic attacks, as people regularly have these panic attacks and on a very intense level. There is often no warning that there will be a panic attack and that is very scary. The functioning of an individual with panic disorder can be impaired on a day-to-day basis due to the uncertainty and severity of the disorder. Millions of people suffer from panic disorder.
Panic attacks are waves of anxiety that to the individual can feel very much like a medical crisis is occurring. But the reality is this is not the case. Oftentimes, people will have gone to the ER to confirm their symptoms are not a heart attack, and feel ashamed, and this makes the person feel worse, when all they did was look out for their health.
This condition becomes complex and challenging, but it can be managed. The panic attacks have a time range that varies from a few minutes to a few hours.
There can be triggers to panic attacks or they can happen out of nowhere. If there are triggers, then knowing what precipitates the triggers can be useful as part of the treatment.
Physical and Emotional Components of Panic Disorder
Both physical and emotional components understandably accompany the panic attacks and also remain afterwards. Because the nervous system is activated, and the fight-or-flight response is on high alert, it is to be expected that the person would feel drained afterwards physically. Emotionally, the person will likely feel shame, even though the do not deserve this feeling of shame. This comes from having gone through the panic attack and feeling as if they have no control over it, and perhaps if they have sought assistance, they have felt as if they are a burden to someone else.
Stigma and Panic Disorder
It is important to remember that as a society, we still emphasize full autonomy, and unfortunately do not remind people that asking for help is a good thing. We do not do this enough or at all. There is a stigma when we need help over something that we do not know how to control, and panic attacks are very overwhelming experience.
Patrick Tully Will Assist in Your Journey
Patrick Tully has experience helping people as an LA therapist helping with anxiety disorders including panic disorder and panic attacks. As a Los Angeles therapist, Patrick Tully can help you with panic disorder and panic attacks. As a Culver City therapist, Patrick Tully can assist in the understanding the causes and treatment of panic disorder. As a Pasadena therapist, Patrick Tully can help in your understanding panic disorder and panic attacks, which are part of anxiety disorders. Even if you’re in another part of California, Patrick Tully’s license covers all of California, so he is a therapist in California who helps with panic disorder and panic attacks. Patrick Tully is a therapist in Texas, and Patrick Tully is a therapist in Florida! He helps the LGBTQ+ community as a specialty but will help anyone who suffers from this overwhelming disorder which can feel unavoidable.
Not Knowing What To Do: We Often Resort to Avoidance
When we suffer from panic disorder and the constant panic attacks, we understandably turn to avoidance of certain places, situations, anxious thoughts, in the hope of trying to alleviate the condition. What has been found in doing so is that this avoidance only reinforces the panic as the anxious messages are reinforced paradoxically in a way, as they return to find new places, situations, and thoughts where panic can occur. Only by targeting those underlying messages and proving that they are not true, and the associations are false, do we find relief. This is possible, and through exposure therapy, which is done strategically with a trained therapist, such as Patrick Tully. Relief is in sight.
Patrick works with multiple types of anxiety disorders
Patrick has experience working with many types of anxiety, in addition to panic disorder, including social anxiety, specific phobias, generalized anxiety, work-related anxieties, and more.
Harmony is Here. Reach Out Today!
You deserve harmony in your life again. Please fill out the contact form or email Patrick Tully at: patrick@patricktullytherapy.com. You can trust that you are in the right hands! You can also text Patrick at 323-819-0747.
