hi Cognitve therapy is just that 'consoling youself' telling your self that this is what it is. We are always wanting an answer to why we are feeling this way and usually we think the worse..like something dreadful is wrong..like I'm losing control..we literally scare ourselves in thinking 'this is it'! I am going to die or lose my mind. Our adrenal is a good thing but when it happens for no reason it can be quite scary, it is a chemical that our brain releases when we are in a situation like e.g. someones breaking into our house ...you get scared it's the same feeling. The chemical Serotonin is a make you feel good hormone and sometimes as people we lose that balance in our brain hence ' chemical imbalance' some of us are more prone to anxiety because of how we look at life situations, I have a very imagintive creative mind always have been that way, plus I am very sensitive so I tend to take alot of things to heart. So I am getting older (42) I am premenopausing and my body was changing so my chemicals(we all have em) were flucuating and boom it triggered my panic attack. Most people will have a panic or anxiety at least once in there life and never experience another one but if you have more then one it's usually an imbalance...it's usually a wake-up call and we have to change our lifestyle which includes ...what we eat....how much we excercise....how we think, moderation in everything we do is the key...to much of one thing is not good..not enough is not good either. We have to find a balance. Cognitive therapy works because it makes us think of the positive and not the negative. We always should not run away or ignore our thoughts there just thoughts ...when your feeling or thinking of something that we figuer we shouldn't think about we tell our brain and push that thought away because it's a unpleasent thought and hope it will go away we are afraid of it....aknowledge the thought for a 1/2 a minute no longer and then push it away otherwise it will keep creaping back into our thoughts, keep doing this and before you know it, it disappears. This is called facing your fears, it is powerful tool....an example is some people are afraid to fly because the plane will crash...a thought...but face your fear and repeat your thoughts out loud say to yourself 'the plane is going to crash it is not as upsetting as we think, I am not saying to pay ateention to the negative just aknowledge it that it is there and then let it go..it is only a thought..you will be amazed by educating yourself on our mental health that it is all just another step in life and it does not have to be scary. There is medication out there and it can be scary to think about that but for some people they just need that cushion to sit on while they are healing it can be very crippling to live that way and you don't have to. Find a good Dr I just have a regular dr who dabbles abit in Natuopathic ways and meds are not always the answer but they can help as long as your willing to help yourself...you are your own best doctor...take care and god bless!