Part 10 Suffering, Panic, Bipolar Disorder, And Schizophrenia Series

Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are periods of intense fear that arise suddenly in times when there is no significant danger present. They generally begin abruptly, reach a peak within ten minutes, and subside over the next several hours. The panic itself is not voluntary. Telling people to calm down or to get over it will not help. Of course they want to calm down and get over it, but the response of panic is physiological and beyond immediate conscious control. The heartbeat speeds up. Often there is dizziness or lightheadedness and a sense that they have to leave the room and get some air.

A friend who struggles with this problem described it this way: “I feel trapped in myself. I feel trapped in despair and gloom, and all I can do is beg for the pain to stop. I don’t think a person can really understand this pain until they have experienced it themselves. People around me don’t know how to respond when I feel this way—looks of pity, confusion, and annoyance don’t help. I have learned to hide this pain—to pretend that I’m fine when I’m not.”

Panic attacks are often closely connected to depression. A person is becomes depressed, the emotional pain is overwhelming, and a feeling of panic results from the fear that there may never be relief. With every moment that passes, the hope of ever feeling better grows dimmer and dimmer until it is snuffed out altogether. The person feels doomed to unbearable suffering. But the problem is so crippling that there is a sense that “I must get better—I have to. I can’t go on like this!”

Counseling someone who suffers from panic attacks

As with other kinds of suffering, begin with genuine compassion and comfort (see chapter three). Do not rebuke the person for feeling panic and fear. Reassure him with comforting, soothing, calming words from Scripture. And most important, confidently assure the person that you know some biblical principles that will help. Offer hope.

If the person struggles with depression, that is a good place to begin (see chapter eight). The biblical solutions to depression will also be helpful for panic attacks. And there hope of the possibility of recovery from depression can also help.

Explore also how the person is thinking about stress and anxiety in general. Make sure the counselee understands the biblical principles regarding anxiety (see chapter nine).

The friend I quoted above recovered from her panic problem, and I asked her what it was that helped her. She said primarily the knowledge that it is all right to suffer. “The panic comes from fear that I will not be able to feel better. There is comfort in the fact that I don’t have to feel better. I can carry out my calling even while I’m suffering.”

She listed six more things that have been helpful to her:

I now realize that I’m walking through life and each thought is a step. I can walk away from fear and panic with each successive thought.

I am working on thinking on things above. When I suffer, I ask myself if I really believe in eternity.

God is sanctifying me, making me the woman He wants me to be. He is faithful. He has my best interests at heart. He truly is my Good Shepherd, leading me to peace. “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).

I now am aware that God gives us exactly the amount of pain and pleasure He decides. He will determine all of my suffering, all of my pain—and all of my pleasure. I will not have this power.

I am convicted about contentment. To refuse to be satisfied with what God has for me is covetousness and discontent.

I have been challenged to see what my idol is.

Then she wrote, “I am tired. Whenever I hear that He breaks us to make us new, I feel I’ve been broken enough. But I do have a peace in my heart that good times are ahead after the present struggle. I feel optimistic.” This was added a few days later: “P.S. God is so quickly healing me of these struggles. I felt renewed even by writing this down.” The last words in her note were, “It is over. I am free of the medications, and I am joyful and optimistic.”

Bipolar Disorder

The term “bipolar disorder” is the new term for the old label “manic-depressive.” It is used to describe a person who has major mood swings from extreme depressed moods to extremely elevated moods. The psychological term for the elevated mood is “mania” or “manic episode.” And according to the DSM IV, a manic episode is “a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive or irritable mood, lasting at least 1 week.”[1] And in order for it to be diagnosed as a manic episode that elevated mood must have 3 of the following components (four if the mood is only irritable):