But for it to work you have to have a reason. You know you are capable of having panic attacks because you have had one. You don't know you can be free of them permanently because you have not been in this state. So all you have is our word for it that you can be. Not as concrete as seeing it for yourself. Back to "I am going to have a panic attack". Do you? Do you always? If not then this is not a true statement. If you do then you have to deal with the attacks before any challenging statement will work for the very simple reason that it is not false. Which means working on relaxation and coping (distractions) so that you can at least have one episode where you don't panic. It only takes one to give you something to build on because then you know for sure that the thought "I am going to have an attack" is false. That is your challenge. You can also use, "I am going to have an attack but as soon as it is over I will be okay". This will lessen the impact of them and make it easier to not have one. And not having one is all it takes to prove the thought is false and give you something to build on. Does this sound confusing. It really isn't. Once the adrenalin rush has started you pretty much have to let it run it's course so you want to challenge the thought before this can happen. There are times at the beginning that no matter what you do you are going to panic. That is just how it is. But you can make them less severe. To the point they are a tolerable nuisance.
So keep in mind for a thought to be true it has to be true 100% of the time but to be false it only has to be false once.
Have you taken a look at the 10 questions to challenge your thought? Or you may want to check our Session 7 on simulating panic for more ways to use CBT to help with this.
I am currently working on this section in the program and I am a bit stuck. I find that my primary anxious thought tends to be "I am going to have a panic attack" which escalates my anxiety quite quickly. I am trying to come up with challenging thoughts but can't seem to find one that really "challenges".
