Coping With Panic

Could you use a book that is the most widely validated self-help book ever written? Coping With Panic, by George A. Clum, Ph.D., himself a sufferer of panic and an internationally known researcher in anxiety disorders, is now in its 7^th printing. Coping With Panic is intended for use by individuals who experience problems with panic attacks and avoidance of situations associated with those attacks. Coping With Panic is based on the most current empirical findings on how to treat panic disorder and is informed by Dr. Clum's extensive clinical experience and his own experience with panic. This book provides an easy-to-read step-by-step guideline for overcoming panic problems and restoring individuals who previously avoided panic-inducing situations to a more fully functioning life.

Coping With Panic is unique among self-help books in that its effectiveness has been tested in five separate research studies at three major universities and one general hospital in two countries (See Note 1). In each of these controlled studies, Coping With Panic has been shown to be highly effective, both as a stand-alone intervention and in conjunction with individual and group treatments. It currently is used as part of a treatment package for individuals with panic disorders in the Manitoba Province of Canada. The timeframe for applying this approach - eight weeks - is also one of the briefest for treating panic disorder. Individuals whom have used this program have been uniformly laudatory in their evaluations.

Coping With Panic covers such topics as factors that predispose to developing panic disorder, understanding the self-perpetuating nature of panic, and coping strategies for eliminating the symptoms and cognitions of panic disorder and the avoidance behavior of agoraphobia. Numerous case studies are provided that encourage identification with others who have been helped by this approach and that bring the treatment process to life. Expected resistances to change are also identified and strategies provided to overcome these resistances.

Note 1: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Washington State University, Oregon State University and St. Boniface General Hospital

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 What is Panic?

Chapter 2 What Causes Panic?

Chapter 3 The Symptoms of Panic

Chapter 4 Evaluating Coping Strategies

Chapter 5 Coping With the Symptoms of Panic

Chapter 6 Panic Thinking: Catastrophic Cognitions

Chapter 7 Coping With Catastrophic Cognitions

Chapter 8 Strategies in Action

Chapter 9 The What and Why of Avoidance Strategies

Chapter 10 Eliminating Avoidance Strategies

Chapter 11 A Consumer's Guide to Treatment