Panic and anxiety attacks affect around 5% of the population at some point in their life - usually young people up to the age of 35. Standard medical treatment includes a variety of medication to help ease the affects of the attacks and help gain control at an emotional level.

However if you are not into medication or natural remedies to treat panic attacks, then you may want to try the Three Minute Therapy: a cognitive approach to dealing with panic attacks.

This may be the most logical method of overcoming panic attacks compared to seeing a psychologist or physician. This therapy assists the mental processes that a person goes through when experiencing a panic attack. There are two stages to this: first, identifying the "must do" activities that are driving the panic attack, and secondly disputing these "must do" activities until you overcome the pressure.

Anxiety prone people are more prone to dwell and magnify things that they "must do". For instance, a mother of small children might think that she "must know" exactly why she feels panicky. She tells herself that she "must" never lose control. She "must" not do something to look stupid. She tells herself that she "must" have a guarantee that she's not going to make herself panic.

These "must do" activities become an unrealistic obsession, and this develops into feelings of fright, panic, becoming hysterical and ultimately depression. People with these feelings of panic might also want to avoid uncomfortable situations so as to avoid further loss of control.

Using Three Minute Therapy, the panic attack sufferer needs to identify the "must do" activities in their life. Though it is "nice" to avoid discomfort or unwanted situations, it is not entirely a "must have" situation. Being uncomfortable is a perfectly normal human feeling, every once in a while. So you will need to realise that this is part of everyday existence and get on with life.

The second step in Three Minute Therapy is to convince yourself that these "must do" activities are not really that important after all. This will be a real mental battle for some people, as it goes directly against the grain of their thinking. As a sufferer you will need to be persistent and confront these thoughts when they arrive and dispute these "must do" activities until you feel it is natural to let go with the situation.

One method of overcoming panic attacks is to practise doing things that you would otherwise be afraid of doing. This stretches your boundaries and you will be able to demonstrate that discomfort isn't life threatening, and will tend to diminish in its ability to cause panic the more you face it.

By using Three Minute Therapy you may be able to overcome panic and anxiety attacks without the use of drugs or medication.