[img]560|left|Nicholas D. Pollak||no_popup[/img]I received a call from a new client who lives 75 miles from my office and found me on the internet. He was doing research on his own panic and anxiety.
His first panic attack, at the age of six, occurred when his mother was disciplining him for something he had done.
I asked if he could remember what he had been eating at the time? His family was poor. They did not eat well, sometimes not at all. As I questioned him about his present diet, he said he rarely eats breakfast.
Did he feel better when he ate breakfast? Always, he said. On those days, he rarely experienced a panic attack. More energetic, his head was clearer, and he never worried.
He had seen a hypnotist for two sessions, felt better for awhile, then did not. He also had seen a psychiatrist and that the psychiatrist for two years, and he was of no help.
A Crisis Strikes
He was desperate. A contractor, his livelihood depended on being able to drive anywhere there was a job. His panic and anxiety were so bad, he was turning down work for fear of having to drive on the freeway.
The worst attacks erupted when he was driving.
His marriage was in trouble, and his wife was refusing therapy. Divorce looked inevitable.
In previous articles on panic and anxiety, written about panic and anxiety, I emphasized a low carbohydrate and high protein diet. It is essential to the recovery of any individual suffering from debilitating panic and anxiety.
Carbohydrate breaks down to sugar very quickly, and it is burned up quickly. A person on a high carbohydrate diet can expect to have severe sugar level swings, mood swings, sweating, nervousness, panic, anxiety and irritability.
The brain needs sugar to function properly. If not, it will react in a way that will leave the person with all of the above described symptoms, which are a manifestation of the brain worried about its survival. The brain, rather than functioning from its higher critical thinking level, deteriorates to its primitive fight or flight level, not conducive to productive thinking. Instead, it focuses on what it needs to do to survive.
Why Sugar Level Is Vital
When the sugar level is stable, which is accomplished by eating small protein-based meals every two hours, the brain no longer is concerned with where its correct nourishment is coming from. It is able to focus on the situations at hand, function from the higher critical functioning level. As the sugar level is stable, the sweats, irritability, panic, anxiety and fears are eliminated.
In addition to stabilizing the diet, a series desensitization sessions takes place. In these sessions, while under hypnosis, the individual is asked to recreate a panic and anxiety attack. He is directed to experience them at a heavier level perhaps than ever before. Then the client is told to stop the attack on command. In my experience, every client succeeded.
The purpose is to show the client that he creates and eliminates attacks. Once understood, coupled with the high protein diet, attacks usually disappear in a few weeks.
The client is given a breathing exercise called box breathing. This regulates oxygen intake. When an attack hits, the person tends to hyperventilate. This only compounds the problem.
To sum up, the road to living panic and anxiety-free is an adequate diet, rich in protein, to eat small meals frequently (at least every two hours) and to understand that just because the body feels a certain way, does not mean that the mind has to give in to the feeling.
By recognizing it is just a feeling, this will help you to live a healthy life.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321 or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net
