Understanding the objective of an illness is key to improvement

Panic Disorder is an externalization process for traumatic unconscious content which impedes mental equilibrium. A panic attack serves as an 'escape valve', pouring into conscious thought the traumatic content in the form of vague intuitions such as an unexplained fear of impending doom or death. All physiological symptoms related to panic disorder such as chest pain, sweating, dizziness and intestinal malfunction are psychosomatic, or the reflection of the mind onto the body. They are therefore NOT life-threatening.

The mind needs to go through this painful experience in order to regulate or 'sanitize' the unconscious, in a similar way to post-traumatic therapy, when the individual mentally relives a past traumatic event to re-contextualize it, comparing it to the safety of the present moment. The traumas being dealt with at the unconscious level may or may not have been experienced in this lifetime.

Mentally fighting against a panic attack is like throwing gas on fire. Instead, acceptance and patience bring a certain level of serenity, which in turn reduce the strength of the current and future attacks. Successfully going through a panic attack without despair means that further attacks will be met with confidence and understanding, greatly reducing their negative effects.

Paradoxically, a mental illness is a healing process for the psyche whose beneficial effects may be experienced during or after this lifetime.

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Illness of the Soul

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