When a person first starts suffering the effects of panic attacks, they often do not know what is happening to them. Literally hundreds of people attend Accident and Emergency departments of Hospitals around the world daily, suffering what they suspect is a heart attack only to be confronted with the opinion that there is nothing wrong with them, even though they feel like they are dying.

This reaction from doctors and the medical profession is totally understandable, because the effects of panic attacks are not always obvious. A fast beating heart accompanied by heavy breathing is symptomatic of everyone who is frightened and upset, because it’s the bodies natural stress response.

For this reason alone, it’s so easy for others to dismiss panic attacks as “all in your head!” In fact, one of the most common complaints we hear at BeOnForm is that nobody understands! Family, friends and even some doctors, mean well when they say “you will be OK, just breath deeply;” “calm down,” or even “pull yourself together,” its just that they don’t understand! Panic attacks are horrendous, but people who have never experienced panic attacks themselves, are often not as sympathetic as they might be.

Doctors have a number of options at their finger tips; they can refer their patients for Psychotherapy & counselling, or offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), but more often than not GP’s initially go down the road of offering prescription drugs.

All of the above have a place of course and if a doctor advises a given course of action, you should follow his advice. However, many of the conventional therapy options concentrate on reducing the symptoms rather than eradicating the cause of the panic attacks, which is where modern therapies win through in the long term.

Fortunately, such therapy types are now available in the UK, albeit only via private treatment, as even though the NHS Trusts Association (NHSTS) have now officially recognized the value of modern therapies such as Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and included them in their directory of complementary medicine, they are not yet available under NHS funded schemes.

Lloyd Watkins our head therapist who alongside specialising in helping panic attack sufferers, teaches TFT to the exacting standards required by the NHS, said recently “its great news that the NHSTA have at long last recognised the benefits of TFT. This will now lead the way to wider exposure of this fantastic method and hopefully open the door to it eventually becoming available in hospitals and clinics throughout the country; something long overdue.”