INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / OCTOBER 16, 1990

 

 

Coping with Panic Attacks

iad ave you found yourself in
situations where your heart

speeds up and your hands shake?
Where you’re short of breath and
overcome with fear?

Welcome to the Twilight Zone
— or as it has become more com-
monly known in the last 10 years
—a panic attack.

“Sufferers of panic attacks
often have the feeling that they are
in a different world,” says family
therapist Larry Green. “They feel
they are in a foreign world with en-
tirely different rules. It’s much like
the old TV series, The Twilight
Zone. A lot of the bizarre
phenomena in that show were like
metaphors for panic attacks.”

Green will lead a one-day
workshop called Coping with
Panic Attacks at Douglas College
in New Westminster, October 27.

Ten years ago, the psychiatric
community did not recognize
panic attacks, diagnosing the
malady as schizophrenia or other
more traditionally understood af-
flictions. Today, the panic attack is
universally recognized and ac-
cepted as a distinct disorder.

“The more I work in this area
the more I hear from friends or col-
leagues that have experienced
panic attacks.” said Green. “Very
often it can follow a relatively com-
mon event such as a divorce or a
birth.”

Mental health professionals
believe that four to six per cent of
the population is subject to Panic
Disorder Syndrome, or panic at-
tack. If left untreated, panic attacks
can lead to severe depression and
agoraphobia (the fear of being in
public places).

Green says that panic attacks
have been described as the “fear of
fear”.

“It’s often life issues that have
been put on hold because a person
doesn’t want to face them con-
sciously,” he says. “When they
erupt, you have a panic attack, or
what Freud referred to as signal

anxiety. In the workshop we try to
focus on that anxiety...something
like tuning in a radio signal so that
you can make sense of it.”

Surprisingly, sufferers are
often people who were once high
achievers and perfectionists. They
are often the type of person to
whom others brought their
problems. The emotional
symptoms are generally marked
by a fear of losing control or a fear
of going crazy. .

Green says that while drugs
are useful in “taking the edge off”
attacks, a deeper understanding of
the causes — and treatment of the
psychological, spiritual and

physiological elements of the prob-
lem— is necessary for a lasting
cure.

“T suffered terribly from panic
attacks ten years ago so I know the
subjective side of the problem
too,” says Green. “My cure came
in the form of psychiatric treat-
ment. Sufferers should know that
panic attacks are something that
can be completely cured, per-
manently.”

Coping with Panic Attacks
will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
on Saturday, Oct. 27. For more in-
formation, phone 527-5479. To
register, call 527-5472. @

 

September 28 & 29, 1990

 

Tournament

15-5, 15-10.
Tournament Ail-Stars were:

Leanne Marsel, Penticton
Theresa Garthwaite, Penticton
Deng Yang, Sir Charles Tupper
N. Hopewell, Mt. Doug

Leah Hernandez, St. Pat's

 

Royal Classic Voileyball

he Douglas College Women’s Volleyball Team played host to the

3rd Annual Royal Classic Volleyball Tournament for senior girls
highschool teams this past weekend. Twenty teams competed ina
round robin format with five teams in four separate pools. St. Pat’s,
Sentinel, Penticton and Mt. Doug (Victoria) won their respective pools.

After the round robin was completed the top two teams from each
pool advanced to the championship round of the tournament. The
two rounds were both single elimination.

On the consolation side of the draw, Sir Charles Tupper defeated
Steveston 15-0, 15-10, while Nanaimo District defeated Robron 15-7,
15-13. Sir Charles Tupper then went on to defeat Nanaimo District 15-
4, 15-17, 15-4 to capture the consolation championship.

While in the semi-finals of the championship draw, Mt. Doug
defeated Penticton 4-15, 16-14, 15-13 in a very exciting match. The
other semi saw St. Pat’s defeat Sentinel, also in a very exciting three
game match 6-15, 15-11, 15-3. The final saw Mt. Doug defeat St. Pat’s

Tournament MVP - Patrice Hepwell, Mt. Doug fl

 

 

 

 

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