Your body is running a very effective emergency response system for emergencies that don't exist. We can teach it to stop.
Panic attacks are terrifying, temporary, and treatable.
You already know the panic attack won't kill you. People have told you that. You've told yourself that. But in the moment, your body doesn't care what your brain knows. Your heart races, your chest tightens, the room tilts, and every nerve in your body screams that something is very, very wrong. The problem isn't the panic attack itself. It's what happens after. The watching. The waiting. The rearranging of your entire life around the possibility of the next one.
"You're not losing your mind. You're not dying. Your body is doing exactly what it was designed to do, just at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons."
You've probably been to the ER at least once, convinced it was your heart. The tests came back normal and someone told you it was "just anxiety," which is one of the least helpful things a medical professional can say to someone mid-panic. You started avoiding the places where it happened. Then the places where it might happen. Your world got smaller and the fear got bigger.
That's not weakness. That's your nervous system doing what nervous systems do when they learn to associate physical sensations with danger. The good news: that association can be unlearned. Specifically, with a treatment designed exactly for this.
How panic disorder impacts your life
Driving and independence
Driving is one of the most common areas where panic disorder creates real functional limitation. Being far from home, on a highway with no easy exit, stuck in traffic with nowhere to go. For people with panic disorder and agoraphobia, driving can shift from an inconvenience to an impossibility. The impact on independence, employment, and daily functioning is significant.
Parenting
Panic disorder and parenting is a combination that gets very little attention. Being the primary caregiver for kids when you're managing something this unpredictable is exhausting and isolating. Fear of having a panic attack while alone with your kids. Avoiding activities with your children because they involve situations that feel unsafe. Many parents with panic disorder carry significant shame about this.
Relationships and marriage
You start needing someone with you for situations they used to handle alone. Your partner becomes your safety net, and that changes the relationship in ways that are hard to undo without treatment. Partners also carry their own secondary anxiety, watching someone they love suffer and not knowing how to help without making the avoidance worse.
Work
Commuting, meetings, travel, working in open offices or crowded environments. Panic disorder can make standard workplace expectations feel impossible. Many people manage by white-knuckling through situations, leaving early, or quietly arranging their careers around their limitations without ever addressing the underlying condition.
Physical health and medical anxiety
Panic attacks are so physically convincing that many people have visited emergency rooms, had cardiac workups, and undergone extensive medical testing before anyone suggested panic disorder. People spend years getting tested for things they do not have while the actual problem goes untreated.
Sleep
Nocturnal panic attacks deserve their own mention. Waking from sleep in full panic is disorienting, exhausting, and demoralizing in a way that daytime panic attacks are not. The fear of falling asleep when sleep itself has become unpredictable creates its own layer of sleep disruption that compounds everything else.
Why interoceptive exposure works when everything else hasn't
Most people with panic disorder have tried to manage it by avoiding the sensations that trigger panic. No caffeine. No exercise. No situations that make your heart race. And for the love of everything, do not forget your emotional support water bottle. Those strategies make complete sense. They also make panic disorder worse.
Interoceptive exposure is the opposite approach. Instead of avoiding the physical sensations associated with panic, we deliberately induce them in a controlled way. Spinning in a chair to create dizziness. Breathing through a straw to create the feeling of breathlessness. Running in place to elevate your heart rate. The goal is to teach your nervous system that these sensations are uncomfortable but not dangerous. That a racing heart is not a heart attack. That dizziness is not a sign that something is catastrophically wrong.
We map your panic triggers
First, we identify which physical sensations scare you most (racing heart, dizziness, shortness of breath, derealization) and what situations you avoid because of them.
We build a hierarchy
We rank the sensations and situations from least to most feared. You don't start at the top. We approach this gradually and strategically.
We deliberately induce the sensations
Spinning in a chair. Breathing through a straw. Running in place. We create the physical sensations of panic on purpose so your brain learns they aren't an emergency. The feared sensation loses its power.
You become your own safety signal
The goal isn't to never feel a racing heart again. It's to feel it and not care. You stop needing escape routes, safe people, or perfect conditions. You become enough.
What to expect when we work together
I practice via telehealth only, which means we meet virtually. You sit in your living room, your car, or an unoccupied room at your office, wherever you feel most comfortable. I meet you wherever you are, literally and figuratively.
We start with a thorough assessment, not a surface-level conversation. I need to understand your specific panic pattern: which sensations terrify you, what you avoid, what your safety behaviors look like, and how panic has reshaped your daily life. Then we build a treatment plan designed for your version of this, not a generic one.
Sessions are structured and goal-directed. We track your progress with real measures: panic frequency, avoidance levels, fear ratings. You will know if this is working because the numbers will show it and your life will start opening back up.
Interoceptive exposure and CBT have the strongest research base for panic disorder. Most people see significant improvement within 12 to 16 sessions. Some of my clients went from daily panic attacks and near-agoraphobia to living without restriction. That's the trajectory we're aiming for.
I work with adults in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Nebraska. If panic has been shrinking your world, we can reverse that.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Check the ones that apply. This isn't a diagnosis. It's a starting point.
Sound familiar? You're not alone, and this is treatable.
I work with adults via telehealth in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Nebraska. Panic disorder responds remarkably well to the right treatment. Let's talk about getting you there.
Book Your Free ConsultFrequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a panic attack and a panic disorder?
A panic attack is a single episode of intense fear with physical symptoms like racing heart, shortness of breath, and dizziness. Panic disorder is when those attacks become recurrent and you start changing your behavior to avoid having another one. It's the fear of the fear that turns isolated panic attacks into a disorder.
Can panic disorder be treated without medication?
Yes. CBT with interoceptive exposure is the gold standard treatment for panic disorder, and research shows it's effective with or without medication. Some people benefit from both, and that's fine. But therapy alone has strong outcomes, and the skills you learn last longer than any prescription.
Do you treat agoraphobia?
Yes. Agoraphobia frequently develops alongside panic disorder. It's the avoidance pattern that builds around panic, avoiding places, situations, or activities because you're afraid of having an attack. Treatment addresses both the panic itself and the avoidance that keeps it going.
How do I get started?
Book a free 15-minute consult. It's low-key and no commitment. We'll talk about what's going on and figure out if we're a good fit.
Related conditions
Panic disorder frequently co-occurs with other anxiety conditions. If what you are reading here sounds familiar but does not quite fit, one of these might:
OCD
Intrusive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, and exhausting loops that can overlap with or be mistaken for panic.
Learn moreAnxiety
When your brain treats every uncomfortable feeling as a threat and avoidance becomes your default setting.
Learn morePhobias
Agoraphobia commonly develops alongside panic disorder. Exposure therapy treats both the panic and the avoidance it creates.
Learn more