024: Scared Stiff — The Cognitive Model (Part 3)

The cognitive model of anxiety is based on three powerful ideas:

1. Anxiety always results from negative thought (NTs) that involve the prediction of danger. For example, if you have public speaking anxiety, you are probably telling yourself something like this: “I just know I’m going to blow it. My voice will tremble. People will know I’m anxious. My mind will go blank. I’ll mumble and make a total fool of myself.” Or, if you struggle with panic attacks, you probably have thoughts like this: “I think I’m about to die. I can’t breathe properly. I’m about to pass out!” Or, “I’m about to lose control and go crazy.”
2. The NTs that trigger anxiety are always distorted and illogical. In contrast, valid NTs cause healthy fear.
3. When you put the lie to the distorted NTs, the anxiety will disappear. This can sometimes happen in an instant.

Dr. Burns describes his treatment of a woman named Terry who had suffered from ten years of incapacitating panic attacks and severe depression prior to contacting Dr. Burns. During each panic attack, Terry would experience tightness in her chest and tingling skin and tell herself she was about to pass out, suffocate, or die of a heart attack. Multiple emergency room visits, medical tests, and reassurances from doctors did not help. In addition, years of medication and psychotherapy were not at all helpful.

After trying a number of cognitive techniques that did not help, Dr. Burns persuaded her to let him induce an actual panic attack during an office visit so he could use the Experimental Technique, which is arguably the most powerful technique ever developed for the treatment of anxiety, and he televised the session. What happened next will blow your mind!

In the next podcast, Drs. Burns and Nye will describe the Exposure Model of treatment, and Dr. Burns will describe his personal struggles with his fear of blood during medical school.