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Stop Panic Attacks, Use the THOUGHTARREST Technique by Janco Vorster
Janco Vorster is a blogger who shares his heart arrhythmia journey at My Afib Heart. Diagnosed at age 24, he had his first anxiety attack a couple years later. Fear was his closest companion for a while. He writes, “Then as if sent from above I went to see a psychiatrist. He helped me to understand that I cannot be in control all the time.”
In his post, When Panic And Anxiety Wants to Take Over Your World, Janco describes his method for dealing with the anxiety that often accompanies Atrial Fibrillation. He writes that his THOUGHTARREST technique has not only helped him with his panic attacks, but its use and understanding has had a big impact in his life.
THOUGHTARREST
Stop Panic! Arrest Your Thoughts
1. DO NOT DENY OR SUPPRESS IT
Look deep into what you are really fearing in the thought or symptoms you are experiencing. Dismantle the thought.
2. WRITE IT DOWN, OR TALK ABOUT IT.
When you write down your thought you “capture” it. Write down how bad it is or was. Don’t sugarcoat it!
3. WRITE DOWN A “BETTER” STATEMENT.
If you get thoughts of “I cannot breathe” rather write down “I feel as if I cannot breathe but I am.”
4. UNMASK AND EXPOSE THE FALSE THOUGHT.
Now that you have your panic attack or anxiety thought pinned down on paper you can expose it as false, and relax.
About Janco Vorster: He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart. After surgery as a child, his TOF (and an enlarged right atria), made him susceptible to heart arrhythmia. His A-Fib was diagnosed at age 24. After numerous cardioversions over several years, he had an ablation (followed by some intermittent episodes afterwards). He lives in South Africa and has been A-Fib free for several years. His blog is My Afib Heart.
Read the Janco Vorster post, “4 Steps Before You Do a THOUGHTARREST” at My Afib Heart. It’s based on a mixture of CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and his own experience with panic attacks.
