When you’re working with clients with panic disorder and/or agoraphobia, and review the gold standards for relevant treatment, time and again you’ll see exposure therapy as an effective therapeutic approach. It’s the first step taken with most anxiety disorders. For someone fearing panic symptoms, however, we should begin with interoceptive exposure.
Interoceptive Exposure
Interoceptive exposure is intentional exposure within the therapy space, through activities that recreate some symptoms of, for example, in Sarah’s case, a panic attack. This might include breathing in and out deeply and quickly to induce feelings of hyperventilation and lightheadedness. Or if someone is reactive to their heart racing, we might get them to run in place while raising their knees up high for up to a minute, to increase their heart rate.