At the end of my morning walk, part of my exposure therapy, I had an intense panic attack. Probably one of the worst ones. Felt adrenaline burning in my stomach, heart fluttering, skipping, pounding, muscles tensing up, and a wave of impending doom over me. I was about to dial emergency services, but something in me said no. It said Enough is enough. I said out loud, "I can handle this". I said on my cold porch stairs and let the panic happen. After a couple of minutes it started getting better and eventually it passed. I have seen people say that because they had a panic attack during their exposure therapy means that they failed, did not achieve anything. This simply is not true. Even when you have a panic attack it is still progress, your body learns that you can handle these panic attacks. The way I see it, exposure is not about getting rid of panic attacks, but instead getting rid of the fear of them and when you do that, panic attacks will fade too.
