There are ways to support your loved one through a panic attack. Here's how.
By David Levine | May 11, 2021, at 4:33 p.m.
Suggest seeing a mental health professional.
If panic attacks are a recurring problem for the person and are interfering with their life, reconnect after their acute anxiety symptoms have subsided and suggest they seek help from a mental health professional.
“The good news is that anxiety is highly treatable, through cognitive behavioral therapy and/or medication,” Rego says. “Short-term treatments can help them become panic-free relatively quickly.”
Kissen agrees: “It’s one of most treatable and quickest to treat conditions. When you learn how to move through it, you can see rapid progress.”
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Kissen is the CEO of Light on Anxiety CBT Treatment Center of Chicago. She is also the co-chair of the Anxiety Depression Association of America Public Education Committee.
Simon A. Rego, PsyD, ABPP, A-CBT
Rego is chief of psychology at Montefiore Medical Center and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.