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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