Panic Disorder: Clinical Assessment and Treatment Goals

ACT interoceptive exposure

Key Points

  1. Sarah has endorsed passive suicidal ideation because she doesn’t want to continue dealing with panic attacks, described as experiences that impact every part of her life.
  2. It’s difficult for Sarah to go to her workplace, as she often finds herself retreating to the bathroom to feel safe if she starts having panic symptoms.
  3. Sarah was diagnosed with panic disorder with agoraphobia. The treatment goals for Sarah are to change her response to panic attacks, learn to differentiate between threatening things and uncomfortable things, develop tools to handle initial panic symptoms so that they don’t escalate, connect with her values, and engage more in committed actions.
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Risk-Related Information

Sarah has endorsed passive suicidal ideation, expressed and displayed as, “I can’t keep on living like this.” “This isn't a life.” “I don’t want to be here if I have to continue dealing with panic attacks on a weekly basis because they are so awful, and they feel like they’re consuming my entire life and limiting my ability to go out, date, spend time with friends. They are even starting to impact my job.”

Life Impacts

Sarah has a remote job in computer science, so is mostly able to work from home. However, now that things have started to open up again in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, she is required to attend the office for meetings about once a week.

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