Interview with Rafael Santandreu: “Panic attacks can be cured”

Panic attacks affect a large part of the population and they are usually one of the main reasons when requesting psychological therapy. When fear takes absolute possession of the mind, these episodes are common in which the person is almost absolutely certain that he is about to die.

Rafael Santandreu tells us about this reality in his latest book Nothing is so terrible: the philosophy of the strongest and happiest. In it, he reminds us that Panic in its purest form is the worst fear we can experience, the most disabling. However, we must be clear: anxiety can be cured. Approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy are often an exceptional tool in these cases.

We cannot forget that Anxiety is, in many cases, an exacerbated expression of fear. Stopping feeding it with silence and exposing ourselves to it with high doses of courage and resolution can get us out of that corner where fears, anxieties and phobias grip us, reducing our quality of life.

Interview with Rafael Santandreu about panic attacks

Panic attacks can be completely cured . Rafael Santandreu tells us clearly in our interview. People who have been suffering from anxiety for decades can eliminate this disabling psychological reality from their lives in a matter of weeks or months.

Now, it is necessary to keep in mind that there are no magic formulas or pills that will dismantle fears. What’s more, in most cases, drugs, far from helping, camouflage the opportunity to confront the root of the problem. Thus, from his daily practice, Santandreu often sees how many people show clear improvements from the first week when they go to therapy.

The key, as the famous cognitive psychotherapist Albert Ellis would say, is to control anxiety to prevent it from having control of our lives. . Fears are dismantled by rationalizing becoming aware that a panic attack is not going to take our life, and that just as we train our body to feel good, we can also exercise our mind to gain well-being.

We talked about it with Rafael Santandreu.

Q. Today we will talk about panic or anxiety attacks. It’s something that affects a lot of people, right?

Yes. It is the problem that psychologists see most. It affects 10% of the population and it can be very disabling. Coming to the point of not being able to leave the house…

Q. What do they consist of?

The person experiences symptoms such as racing heart, arrhythmias, chest pain and feeling of imminent death. But above all, a lot of fear. They usually go to the emergency room and there the doctor tells them that they have nothing. Which is all mental. But these attacks can occur at any time and without a specific cause.

Q. But there are different modalities, right?

Yes. It can also focus on very bad dizziness or stomach pain or whatever. But what is always common is the super fear: the unbridled anxiety that makes you think you won’t be able to bear it.

Q. You have said that people can even live cloistered at home because of that fear. How is that?

Yes. The person usually becomes afraid of being outside the home because they think that if they have an attack in any place where they cannot protect them, the situation could be terrible. At home she feels safer. They also need someone to be with them to help them. And the anxiety attacks can get more and more and more…

Q. Why do they happen?

It is a phenomenon of the mind. If you are afraid of cats, one solution is to avoid them. But if you are afraid of a function of the body, you can no longer run away.

Furthermore, in these cases, the person fears something, such as palpitations, which the fear itself accelerates and increases. That is to say, It is a self-reverberating fear. The more afraid you are, the more you experience the sensations: It’s like a dog that chases you more if you run more…

Q. And what is the solution?

Stop being afraid of those sensations. Expose yourself to them until you verify again and again that you are not going to die and that you can bear them calmly. As soon as you experience this several times, the fear subsides and the symptoms subside.

Q. Is it the famous exposure therapy?

That is. I talk about her in my book Nothing is so terriblebut also I recommend reading Self-help for your nerves by Claire Weekes, an Australian doctor who treated this issue for decades.

Q. When faced with panic attacks, doctors usually prescribe anxiolytics, tranquilizers…

And it is a mistake, because anxiolytics make the matter worse. From a psychological point of view, avoidance, running away, increases the problem. And taking a tranquilizer is running away.

Q. People are taking more and more anxiolytics and they are getting worse. In addition, anxiolytics are addictive, which creates an additional problem. Therapy involves stopping taking them.

Q. With cognitive-behavioral therapy and without medication, do people get cured?

Of course! In my office we see hundreds of cases a year; some seem very complicated, but Almost everyone is 100% cured and after a while, anxiety is a memory blur of the past.

Q. Exposure therapy seems hard since you have to face fear, right?

It is easier as long as you are very consistent and work hard every day. Determination is very important because it makes the task much easier.

If you hesitate or do not work every day, therapy may be prolonged. But those who push themselves hard from the beginning make spectacular progress from the first week. It is not unusual for them to improve by 80% at once in a week.

Q. Are antidepressants good for anxiety attacks?

Maybe so, but it is much better to resolve the issue without taking them. The reason is that it is possible that if you are treated with antidepressants, you will have to take them forever. Many people have been involved in a monumental mental mess because of taking psychotropic drugs: they feel bad, they stop working, they become addicted…

It is best to avoid them as much as possible. It’s a bit like quitting smoking. I recommend Allen Carr’s method: “Quitting smoking is easy if you know how.” With it you leave tobacco without “monkey”, super convinced and forever.

There are doctors who prescribe a drug called Champix to stop smoking. That drug helps, but it is not as good as the Allen Carr therapy. People who stop using Champix tend to relapse much more than those trained with the Allen Carr method.

Q. Is it necessary to go to a psychologist to cure anxiety attacks?

No. Many people have cured themselves. You can read Claire Weekes’ book and apply it to the fullest. But if you see that it doesn’t work out for you, go to a cognitive-behavioral psychologist. But do not leave the issue untreated because it usually increases and is then more difficult to cure. Although it can always be done! I have had patients with 30 years of anxiety attacks behind them and they have gotten 100% fine.

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