Susan Hardstone is 29 years old and was recently married.
Outwardly she appears to be in perfect health.
Three months ago, completely out of the blue, her life changed for no apparent reason and with no warning.
At that moment she joined millions of others who suffer with panic attacks on a regular basis.
One Friday morning in February, while she was shopping at a local department store, she suddenly developed an "overwhelming" sensation all over her body.
She was sweaty and trembling and felt that her heart was pumping too fast.
Within a few seconds, she also suffered from chest pain and shortness of breath.
This episode lasted for about 10 minutes, but she felt that this was the worst ten minutes of her life.
Scared by her experience, she started to stay away from shopping centres, and also avoided being in a crowd of people.
Because of the frequency of the attacks, Susan found she could no longer function normally: this had a major effect on her job, and she felt it was also starting to have a negative influence on her marriage.
Finally she became afraid to leave the house or go to work.
Susan's experience is typical of someone with Panic Disorder; Panic Disorder is diagnosed when an individual suffers at least two unexpected Panic Attacks, followed by at least 1 month of concern over having another attack.
Sufferers feel as though they might die, or develop a stroke or heart attack during a Panic Attack.
Physical changes such as fast heart beat, shortness of breath, fainting episodes, sweating and trembling are some of the accompanying symptoms.
Panic Attacks can either be triggered by a specific situation, or they may come "out of the blue", not being precipitated by any particular trigger.
An attack can last for a few to several minutes and often leaves the person feeling very tired.
One episode can make a person feel scared of having another one.
In fact, a lot of people feel distressed anticipating the occurrence of another attack.
So most individuals prefer to stay at home and isolate themselves from friends, co-workers, and even relatives.
Eventually they become incapacitated.
There are two methods of treating Panic Disorder.
The condition can be treated with antidepressants such as serotonin-reuptake inhibitors and other prescription drugs.
Your doctor would normally undertake a full examination before deciding to prescribe such a drug.
The second, and usually preferred method, which is very successful, is therapy based; a triple therapy approach, which incorporates cognitive behaviour therapy and mild hypnosis, will offer a usually rapid improvement and a long-term solution.
As well as being a drug-free approach, 'Therapy Based' solutions are now becoming the preferred choice by many professionals.
Susan first visited her doctor who confirmed that she was not suffering from any physical condition.
She then decided to visit a clinic, who specialise in the treatment of Panic Disorder, and within just two weeks she felt that she was well on her way back to her normal self.
Individuals who have used Cocaine also increasingly experience phobic reactions and Panic Attacks.
The Elite Clinic in Fuengirola, Southern Spain has developed into something of a first choice specialist location for suffers, with clients flying in from not just the UK but also recently the USA.
They insist on a completely free of charge, non-obligatory, initial consultation for all clients.
All therapists are registered with the British Institute and American Board of Hypnotherapy.
The clinic can be contacted on (0034) 951 311 591.
Additional information can be found on the Elite Clinics website: http://www.
eliteclinics.
com Panic Attacks, Hypnotherapy, CBT, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, NLP, Anxiety Attacks, Spain, Europe, Costa del Sol