Author Description

Map-III is a systematic cognitive-behavioral program, which uses behavioral self-monitoring to increase awareness of circumstances that trigger panic symptoms. Clients learn specific intervention skills, including how to slow down physiological reactivity through breathing retraining and muscle relaxing training; how to de-catastrophise through actual prediction testing; and how to lessen fearfulness through exposure to feared sensations in safe settings. Instead of relying on avoidance, superstitious objects, alcohol, or other unhelpful methods, clients will learn helpful ways of coping with panic and anxiety through cognitive-behavioral therapy. Unlike traditional psychotherapies, the MAP-3 program does not emphasize a person's childhood memories and experiences, unless they are directly related to the person's panic attacks (e.g., witnessing someone die of a heart attack might have led a person to fear that he or she will also die of a heart attack.) Instead, cognitive-behavioral therapy emphasizes factors that currently contribute to the person's panic disorder and agoraphobia and ways of controlling the symptoms of panic and agoraphobia. This method has proven to be highly effective. Through this program, clients learn to control their panic attacks and anxiety about panic. They will also learn some ways for controlling agoraphobic avoidance. The workbook is divided into 14 lessons, each in a separate chapter. Each lesson covers specific skills. The skills build on each other, so for each new lesson, clients will use the skills they have learned previously. Although the workbook is obviously structured, the program allows for individual tailoring.