Panic Disorders/Attacks/Expert Profile

Expertise

Can answer general questions about symptoms, how to cope with them, getting help, relationships with others, employment concerns, family support, personal experience with drug related treatments vs behavior techniques. How panic attacks increased my awareness of the world around me. I can`t answer what medications would be best for you, whether you should or should not disclose your illness to others, substitutions for seeing a physician or other medical advice that should come only from a professional.

Experience in the area

I have had panic disorder/attacks for 20 years, the first 8 were spent in an agonizing search for a diagnosis and eventually cost me a career of 20 years. I can relate well to any employment or socialization problems caused by PD. Over the years I have developed many ways to cope with PD on a daily basis but also know that nothing will substitue for professional help. I have done a lot of research on the disease including past and future medications, genetic tendancies (I now believe my mother suffered from PD) and personal self-esteem issues. On the "flip" side-learning to cope with panic disorder/ attacks actually increased my awareness and sensitivity to others and the world around me.

Organizations

Support Group

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

There is still a lot of research going on in this field and I think we will see a lot of new and better drug treatments as well as diagnosis criteria and genetic discoveries.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

This is a serious illness and affects millions of people many of whom do not realize that they have a treatable disease.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

There are studies underway linking a genetic connection.