Panic Disorder Treatment

Bricolage’s treatment is centered around creating the brain change necessary for your teen to manage their mental health successfully. Whether it’s panic disorder or any other mental health concern, we teach teens the skills they need to live their lives to the fullest and grow into healthy adults.

We do this with individual therapy tailored to your teen’s unique circumstances and goals. They’ll learn what they need to improve their life, not some general protocol for panic disorder that may not work for them.

If your teen has a history of unsuccessful treatment attempts, we understand, and we’re prepared for that, too. Bricolage differs from other treatment facilities in that we take the time to listen to and understand your child’s needs. 

We center our treatment approach around their existing strengths and life goals. When teens view treatment as a tool that empowers them to achieve their goals rather than a set of rules dictating what they should do, they’re more willing to cooperate, listen, and learn.

Another huge component of care is our unique whole-group therapy. This technique eliminates the parts of group therapy that are “boring” for teens by keeping them engaged throughout. We have group discussions and partner work, actively practice real-life skills, learn through multimedia, and more. Sometimes our group therapy is fun, and sometimes it’s challenging– but every step of the way, it equips your teen with the strategies they need to overcome their panic disorder.

These strategies include calming techniques, correcting teens’ unproductive thought patterns and fear responses, and carefully exposing them to their triggers to show their brains that these triggers aren’t dangerous. We also address any other concerns your teen has so they can fully recover.

The brain also often associates certain places, people, and events surrounding the person’s last panic attack with those feelings, and it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not only does the teen with chronic panic attacks feel anxious about having another panic attack around these triggers, but their brain’s circuitry mistakenly learns that anxiety is the correct response to them.

However, just like the brain can learn incorrect responses, it can also learn correct ones. Brain change takes time and work, but it’s key to recovery from any mental health concerns, panic disorder included.

Does Bricolage Use Anti-Anxiety Medications?

Sometimes we use anxiety medication, but it’s far from our first line of defense. We want our kids we work with to be able to manage their symptoms independently, without relying on medications that often merely mask symptoms without addressing the underlying cause.

That being said, medication can be a tool to help teens on their journey to overcoming the obstacles they face, especially early on in their healing process. Our usage of medication is situation-dependent and always accompanies psychotherapy, the core of Bricolage’s treatment.

For example, a teen experiencing debilitating panic attacks that keep them from regularly attending school might benefit from anti-anxiety medication alongside therapy as their primary treatment. The medication may quell enough of their anxiety to help them function while they learn the strategies they need to manage their anxiety themselves and practice skills that will help their brain unlearn its harmful fear responses.

Another teen may do fine without medication or respond badly to medication when they try it. This is also a perfectly viable path to recovery from panic disorder. Medication isn’t required, and we want our teens to know they already possess all the power they need to improve.

To be diagnosed with panic disorder, you have to have recurring panic attacks that happen unexpectedly. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) lays out criteria requiring at least a month of one of the following after a panic attack:

• Persistent worry about having another panic attack
• Continued fears present during a panic attack, such as having a heart attack or “going crazy”
• Behavioral changes, like avoiding anxiety-inducing situations that might trigger another panic attack

Your teen’s panic attacks can’t be the result of substance use, a physical health condition, or another mental health condition to meet the DSM-5 criteria.

Keep what we said earlier on this page in mind, though: a diagnosis is just a label. If your teen doesn’t meet the DSM-5 criteria for panic disorder, that doesn’t mean everything is okay. If your teen is experiencing frequent panic attacks and anxiety, seeking treatment is a good idea. There are strategies they can learn to calm themselves down and overcome their symptoms.

Your child’s path to diagnosis might not look exactly like this because every medical professional goes about diagnosis a little differently. This is just a general guide to what you can expect. Remember that even though a diagnosis can be helpful for some, the treatment your teen receives is far more important.