The primary fears are usually established from the first panic attack. The first and most common fear is ‘I’m having a heart attack’ and/or ‘I am going to die’. The second is ‘I am going insane’, and the third is ‘I’m going to lose control of myself which could mean ‘I’m going to faint’; ‘I’m going to make a fool of myself; ‘I will vomit’; ‘I will have an attack of diarrhoea’; or, literally, ‘I am going to lose control’.
From the primary fears come flow-on fears. In the past much attention was given to the flow-on fears—what we can and cannot do—and in the past treatment was usually aimed at them instead of the cause—the spontaneous panic attacks.
Susan called her husband at work and asked him to come home because she was frightened something was going to happen to her. She had been to five different doctors and not one of them could tell her what was wrong with her. Most had said she was just anxious, and had prescribed various tranquillisers and other medications. She couldn’t make them understand that she knew she was anxious. Feeling the way she did was making her anxious. If they could just tell her what was wrong with her and help her she would stop being anxious. It was beginning to affect her relationship with her husband. She didn’t want to bother him at work, but she didn’t know what else to do.
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