Riya had been referred to with panic disorder. She was preoccupied with the idea that the sensations she experienced in her panic attacks were a sign of a serious physical abnormality, and that she could die in an attack.
The therapist was conducting a session in which she was asked to read pairs of words representing her panic-related thoughts in an attempt to demonstrate that the main problem was her fearful thoughts, rather than a physical abnormality.
Ria had been quite emotional before the task. She took one look at the sheet—the first pair was ‘Breathless- Suffocate’—and said: “I don’t think I can do this, I’m feeling too breathless”.
However, the therapist got her as far as the fifth pair, ‘Palpitation-Dying’, whereupon she stopped, and pushed the paper away. She looked very anxious and said she didn’t want to carry on reading.
“You look as though you are feeling anxious. Is that right? What’s going through your mind right now?” inquired the therapist.
“Its just occurred to me that if you can get breathless by reading the word breathless, by the same token, you can die by reading the word Dying.”
The therapist was surprised by this response and gave a rather muddled explanation of why this would not happen. The experiment had not had its intended effect but, as usual, the patient was asked to listen to the session tape as part of homework.
At the start of the next session, reviewing the homework,
Ria commented:
“I can’t believe how stupid I was”.
“In what way were you stupid?”
“Thinking that if I said the word, Dying, that I’d die.”
“Why’s that stupid?”
“Well, I’ve got friends in the funeral business, they think about dying all the
time, and they’re not dead. And anyway, when I listened to the tape, I noticed
I said you might die by reading the word Dying—and I didn’t die.”
Ria commented:
“I can’t believe how stupid I was”.
“In what way were you stupid?”
“Thinking that if I said the word, Dying, that I’d die.”
“Why’s that stupid?”
“Well, I’ve got friends in the funeral business, they think about dying all the
time, and they’re not dead. And anyway, when I listened to the tape, I noticed
I said you might die by reading the word Dying—and I didn’t die.”
The therapist proceeded with therapy. The next task was to consider the amount of times that Ria had had the thought that she might die, but had not died. They worked out that with about 10 panic attacks a day
over a period of 10 years this had amounted to some 36,000 occasions!
“What do you make of that?” asked the therapist.
“Well” said Ria, “it wouldn’t be a good way of killing myself, would it.”
“What do you make of that?” asked the therapist.
“Well” said Ria, “it wouldn’t be a good way of killing myself, would it.”
If you are in the state of panic, feel free to connect with us. we are happy to help.
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