Editing Panic attack (section)

===Therapy===
According to the American Psychological Association, "most specialists agree that a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapies are the best treatment for panic disorder. Medication might also be appropriate in some cases."<ref>{{cite web |title=Answers to Your Questions About Panic Disorder |url=https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/panic-disorder |website=American Psychological Association |year=2008 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110071101/https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/panic-disorder |url-status=live }}</ref> The first part of therapy is largely informational; many people are greatly helped by simply understanding exactly what panic disorder is and how many others experience it. Many people with panic disorder are worried that their panic attacks mean they are "going crazy" or that the panic might induce a heart attack. [[Cognitive restructuring]] helps people to replace those thoughts with more realistic, positive ways of viewing the attacks.<ref name="Cognitive Restructuring Ability">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cehd.umn.edu/rationalnumberproject/89_2.html|title=Cognitive Restructuring Ability, Teacher Guidance and Perceptual Distracter Tasks: An Aptitude Treatment Interaction Study|last=Cramer, K., Post, T., & Behr, M.|date=January 1989|access-date=19 November 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222180132/http://www.cehd.umn.edu/rationalnumberproject/89_2.html|archive-date=22 December 2010}}</ref> Avoidant behavior, such as what is seen in patients with agoraphobia, is one of the key aspects that prevent people with frequent panic attacks from functioning healthily.<ref name="Panic disorder"/> Exposure therapy,<ref>{{Cite book|title = Exposure Therapy for Anxiety: Principles and Practice|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7RAsnO1vU0UC|publisher = Guilford Press|date = 17 December 2012|isbn = 978-1-4625-0969-0|first1 = Jonathan S.|last1 = Abramowitz|first2 = Brett J.|last2 = Deacon|first3 = Stephen P. H.|last3 = Whiteside|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160520171142/https://books.google.com/books?id=7RAsnO1vU0UC|archive-date = 20 May 2016}}</ref> which includes repeated and prolonged confrontation with feared situations and body sensations, helps weaken anxiety responses to panic-inducing external and internal stimuli.

In deeper-level psychoanalytic approaches, in particular [[object relations theory]], panic attacks are frequently associated with [[splitting (psychology)]], [[paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions]], and [[paranoid anxiety]]. They are often found to be comorbid with [[borderline personality disorder]] and [[child sexual abuse]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Waska|first=Robert|title=Treating Severe Depressive and Persecutory Anxiety States: To Transform the Unbearable|year=2010|publisher=Karnac Books|isbn=978-1855757202}}{{page needed|date=January 2021}}</ref>

There was a meta-analysis of the comorbidity of panic disorders and agoraphobia that used exposure therapy to treat hundreds of patients over a period of time.<ref name=pmid11459386>{{cite journal |last1=Fava |first1=G. A. |last2=Rafanelli |first2=C. |last3=Grandi |first3=S. |last4=Conti |first4=S. |last5=Ruini |first5=C. |last6=Mangelli |first6=L. |last7=Belluardo |first7=P. |title=Long-term outcome of panic disorder with agoraphobia treated by exposure |journal=Psychological Medicine |date=July 2001 |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=891–898 |doi=10.1017/s0033291701003592 |pmid=11459386 |s2cid=5652068 }}</ref> A result was that thirty-two percent of patients had a panic episode after treatment. They concluded that the use of exposure therapy has lasting efficacy for a client who is living with a panic disorder and agoraphobia.<ref name=pmid11459386/>