Pretend for a moment that you are driving down a highway. All of a sudden, for no
apparent reason, your heart begins to race. Your breathing becomes difficult. Feeling
light-headed, you grab the steering wheel and notice that your hands are sweating. A
feeling of panic overcomes you. Your mind races as you try to grasp what is happening.
You struggle to stay in control, but the harder you try, the more out of control you feel.
You tell yourself, “Just stay calm!” But the panic continues to escalate. You try to
distract yourself by listening to the car radio or focusing your attention on the traffic
around you. Another wave of panic! Seconds pass like minutes. You think, What if I pass
out? Maybe this is a heart attack!

Terrified, overwhelmed with a sense of impending doom, you head for the nearest exit in
a desperate attempt to get help. Once off the freeway, the feeling gradually subsides,
leaving you shaken and bewildered.

This episode could have taken place in a shopping mall, a church, your favorite restaurant,
or any number of other places. You have experienced a panic attack. The symptoms may
vary, but the reaction is the same—terror!

Chances are, you associate the panic episode with the freeway and you begin to think: If
it happens on the highway, it could happen elsewhere. As you become more and more
concerned about recurring panic attacks, your symptoms occur more frequently and you
avoid more and more places until your world becomes very small. Eventually, you may
come to believe that the only safe place is within your own home. The nightmare has just
begun. Helplessly caught up in a panic-avoidance cycle, you are now dealing with the
phenomenon known as agoraphobia.

This audio book shares how to deal with living with panic attacks. The guide is for informational purposes only.

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