Page 33 - Advance Copy: Todd Kaufman, Author

Chapter Two
THE ANATOMY OF A
PANIC ATTACK
You may have never suffered a panic attack – that all-out meltdown that can even feel like you are dying (that is a very real feeling and you are about to learn why). Yet you may experience high levels of anxiety, and when it becomes prob- lematic and interferes with your life, it is time to learn how to work with your brain to get better results.
Anxiety can impact you on a continuum: Sometimes it can come as a slight passing feeling, and at its worst, you may find yourself in an emergency room convinced you are having a heart attack and about to die. As we go through learning how to end these panic attacks and manage anxiety I will often just refer to them as “anxiety attacks or panic attacks.” Since these attacks fall on a continuum, please understand when I use this term I am doing so as a catch-all phrase that includes any level of anxiety you personally consider uncomfortable.
It is time to share with you a key understanding that will make a dramatic impact in the length and severity of any panic attack.
Many years ago, I trained in an inner-city hospital in a
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