Panic Attack Symptoms Alleviated with Biofeedback

The physical symptoms of a panic attack are overwhelming. To suddenly experience symptoms such as hyperventilation, nausea, an intense feeling of approaching doom, rapid heart rate, chills, or dizziness in the midst of a non-threatening situation will send most people rushing to their medical care provider.

Armed with the latest research, that provider may very well suggest biofeedback training as one way of helping to alleviate those symptoms. Here’s a basic explanation of what happens when a panic attack strikes and how training the patient in EEG biofeedback exercises can relieve the duration and intensity of the symptoms.

Although the medical world once dismissed panic attack symptoms as the result of an emotional disorder, it is now known that panic attack episodes can happen to anyone, and the physical symptoms are real and devastating. To the person in the midst of a panic attack, immediate relief is imperative.  Learning to retrain brain waves through biofeedback can help provide that relief.

EEG biofeedback training, a process in use since the 1960s, involves retraining brain waves to normal activity via customized training exercises. It is completely non-invasive and allows the patient to avoid the possible long-term and immediate side effects of psychopharmaceuticals.

While the exact causes of panic attacks have not yet been pinpointed, individuals experiencing episodes will display abnormal brain wave activity when measured by an EEG (electroencephalogram). Learning how to retrain the brain as abnormal electrical activity between cells (brain waves) begins to occur, may be useful in preventing a full-blown panic attack.

How, exactly, would that training look? Summed up briefly, the doctor will perform preliminary testing to establish where in the brain the abnormal activity is occurring. Using that information, training exercises using visual or auditory stimuli will commence.

The patient who has suffered a panic attack might be shown an image on a computer screen, or be introduced to a sound, that indicates, during a series of exercises, normal brain waves have been achieved. The patient is actually learning methods of retraining their own brain waves back into normal rhythms.

Once that skill is gained, the prospect of another panic attack can be much less frightening, as the patient knows they have the tools to normalize their own brain activity. All this can be accomplished without medication or invasive procedures.

Experiencing the symptoms of a panic attack can drastically change a person’s outlook on life, but it doesn’t have to. That same person can experience significant relief from subsequent episodes when guided to the tools available to them through EEG biofeedback training.

NEUROFEEDBACK FOR PANIC ATTACKS AND ANXIETY