PSYCHOLOGY FOR PANIC ATTACKS
By David Hennessy, Clinical Psychologist
Psychology for panic attacks can help people understand their panic pattern, reduce fear of bodily sensations and gradually rebuild confidence in activities that have become difficult or avoided. Care is collaborative and tailored to your goals, health and everyday circumstances.
Assessment matters because panic-like symptoms can also arise with medical conditions, medication effects and substance use. For a description of the experience itself, read What Do Panic Attacks Feel Like?.
If you have chest pain and think you may be having a heart attack, severe difficulty breathing, collapse or another medical emergency, call 000. New or changed symptoms need medical assessment rather than being assumed to be panic.
Panic attacks are sudden surges of intense fear or discomfort, often with strong bodily sensations. Understanding Panic Attacks explains the broader condition and diagnostic distinctions.
Assessment explores the pattern, its impact and possible physical or psychological contributors. Together we develop an individual understanding of what maintains the difficulty and what support may be appropriate.
For some people, the most difficult part is not only the attack itself but the fear of another one. People may begin monitoring their body closely, avoiding exercise or bodily sensations, leaving situations early, staying close to exits, avoiding travel or crowds, or relying on reassurance and safety behaviours.
These responses are understandable attempts to feel safer. Over time, however, they can sometimes strengthen the belief that bodily sensations or particular situations are dangerous, which may keep the panic cycle going.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has a strong evidence base for panic disorder. Treatment commonly helps people understand the panic cycle, examine catastrophic interpretations of bodily sensations, reduce unhelpful safety behaviours, and gradually approach sensations or situations that have become feared or avoided [1–4].
Therapy may also address broader contributors such as chronic stress, sleep disruption, trauma history, health anxiety, depression, substance use, relationship pressures, or major life changes when these are relevant. Treatment is collaborative and adapted to the person’s goals, health context and readiness.
Learning how physical sensations, threat interpretations, attention, avoidance and safety behaviours can interact may make panic feel more understandable and less mysterious.
Therapy may involve testing frightening predictions, developing more balanced interpretations of bodily sensations and reducing behaviours that unintentionally reinforce fear.
Where appropriate, carefully planned exercises can help a person become less fearful of benign bodily sensations such as a racing heart, dizziness or breathlessness. Exposure is tailored to health status and should not be used when a medical concern has not been appropriately assessed.
If places or activities have become avoided, therapy may support gradual re-engagement in a way that is manageable and linked to the person’s goals.
Therapy can also address sleep, stress, lifestyle factors, substance use, relationships and practical planning for future panic symptoms, while recognising that progress is often gradual rather than perfectly linear.
Current guidelines and systematic reviews support CBT as a first-line psychological treatment for panic disorder. Evidence also suggests that interoceptive exposure can be an important component of effective CBT packages [6]. The exact combination of strategies should be guided by assessment rather than applied as a fixed formula.
Medication may also be appropriate for some people and is a matter to discuss with a GP or psychiatrist. Psychological therapy can be provided alone or alongside medical treatment depending on the person’s needs and preferences.
Read about what panic attacks are, common symptoms, the difference between panic attacks and panic disorder, and when medical assessment may be important.
Explore psychological services and educational information for anxiety-related difficulties.
Explore evidence-based psychological approaches used at Hennessy Clinical Psychology.
Explore the sensations, frightening thoughts and feelings of unreality that people may experience during panic, and how these can vary.
A detailed educational article about panic attacks, panic disorder and the panic cycle.
Broader information and service pathways for anxiety-related concerns.
Information and support for prolonged stress and difficulties recovering from sustained demands.
Panic attacks are intensely uncomfortable, but the panic response itself is not usually medically dangerous. However, some medical conditions can produce similar symptoms. New, severe, unusual or unexplained symptoms should not simply be assumed to be panic.
A panic attack is an episode. Panic disorder is a broader condition involving recurrent unexpected panic attacks together with ongoing concern about further attacks or significant changes in behaviour because of them.
Yes. CBT is one of the best-supported psychological treatments for panic disorder and can include psychoeducation, cognitive work, reduction of safety behaviours, interoceptive exposure and situational exposure where appropriate.
Often, yes, particularly when symptoms are new, changing, severe, unexplained, or there are medical risk factors. A GP or other appropriate medical clinician can help distinguish panic from physical conditions that may need treatment.
Yes. Appointments are available in person at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast and by secure telehealth across Australia where clinically appropriate.
This page provides general educational information and does not replace individual medical or psychological assessment. Panic-like symptoms can have different causes. Care is tailored to your health, circumstances, preferences and the impact on daily life.
Hennessy Clinical Psychology provides psychological therapy for adolescents and adults from Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast, with telehealth appointments available across Australia.
If panic attacks, fear of panic or avoidance are affecting everyday life, an assessment can help clarify what is happening and whether psychological therapy may be useful.