Stage #4 Chasing The Ghosts

Stage #4 Chasing The Ghosts

A reminder... CLAPPING THE PANIC TIGERS AWAY (The recipe that maintains, worsens and reinforces problems with Panic False Alarms) 1. THE ILLUSION OF DANGER. SIGNS of a Panic False Alarm (normally certain body sensations), or FEAR of a potential, upcoming False Alarm (e.g. I'll panic if I'm in X situation). Scared that worst fears could soon come true (e.g. heart attack & death). 4. THE ILLUSION OF DANGER IS MAINTAINED OR WORSENED Clapping stops your brain from discovering that the danger you believed would come, never actually does. That you ARE & WILL CONTINUE TO BE safe even if you do absolutely NOTHING. 2. CLAPPING THE TIGERS AWAY You do something in an effort to try and stay safe and to AVOID those worst fears from coming true. 3. THE CLAPPING SAVED ME Those worst fears don't come true. However, because you did something to stay safe, it creates the ILLUSION that it was ONLY that action that saved you. In other words, you believe that you avoided disaster ONLY because you clapped.

CHASING THE GHOSTS Now that you ve touched the ghosts, we want to Chase The Ghosts. Chasing The Ghosts is where you go out into the world (to wherever you had False Alarms in the past) to touch those panic ghosts to make them disappear from those contexts too. CHASING THE GHOSTS WITH THE WORST FANTASY TECHNIQUE If you ve already done The Worst Fantasy Technique for 30 minutes each day, then you ve already built your mental muscles, so to speak, for the next stage where you go out into the world to Chase The Ghosts. Here s how to Chase The Ghosts with The Worst Fantasy Technique : Every day at exactly 9am Midday 3pm 6pm 9pm at these specific times (no matter what context you re in, and no matter who you re with), I want you to try your hardest to seek out and evoke The Panic Ghosts for exactly 5 minutes. You can do this with your eyes open, wherever you are, whatever you re doing just as you can think about other things while washing the dishes, or eating lunch, or driving to work. On top of this: if you ever think you re having a Panic False Alarm, then just Touch The Ghosts for another 5 minutes. Simply note the time, then try your hardest to evoke the Panic Ghosts for exactly 5 minutes.

CHASING THE GHOSTS IN SPECIFIC SITUATIONS WITH HYPERVENTILATION 1) Get out the list of things that you had completely or partially avoided, which you wrote down in Stage 1. As you look through this list, are there things that you ve still been avoiding? If there are, then I want you to rank them from least to most anxiety provoking. 2) Start going into those situations one at a time, starting with those that are the easiest for you. If you ever think you re having a False Alarm (or if you get anxious that you COULD have a False Alarm), then Touch The Ghosts by deliberately hyperventilating until you know that your worst fears are never going to come true, no matter what you do, in that situation. 3) Keep doing this until every part of you knows that every situation, activity or place where you ve worried about having False Alarms is 100% safe for you. (It s completely okay to do this slowly over a few weeks or even months, depending on your situation. Go at a rate that s a little challenging for you, but not overwhelming.) VARIATIONS For situations where you can t easily hyperventilate (for example, giving a talk in front of people at work), you can Touch The Ghosts just before you enter that context. Two quick examples: I ve had clients take their first flight after years with panic disorder by hyperventilating for 8 minutes in the bathroom (or car) before boarding or entering the airport. They didn t need to do anything special on the flight as a result but they knew that if they needed to, they could always hyperventilate on the flight as well. Others have hyperventilated for 8 minutes while sitting in their parked car, BEFORE driving to work (because they had been scared of False Alarms while driving).

USING THE WORST FANTASY TECHNIQUE IN VARIOUS SITUATIONS One advantage with The Worst Fantasy Technique is that since it s a mental task, you can even do it in a very public place, even if everyone is watching you. If you ve done The Worst Fantasy Technique for 30 minutes each day for 2 weeks, then you ve already built your mental muscles, so you can do it anywhere you choose. Also, as with hyperventilation, you can also do The Worst Fantasy Technique right BEFORE a situation you fear, if that suits you better.