Burning anxiety: New treatment targets smokers with pani...( history of heavy smoking may increase ...),Health

As a result of his research in the United States and Russia, Zvolensky and his team are currently evaluating a brief prevention program and a 16-week treatment protocol that targets smokers who are vulnerable to panic psychology. By inducing panic symptoms through such methods as having patients hyperventilate or breathe CO2-enriched air, smokers learn to tolerate panic symptoms and react differently to those sensations. For instance, they learn to recognize that a racing heartbeat isn't the onset of a heart attack.

Citizens of Nova Scotia are trying out Zvolensky's treatment model through a collaboration with the Psychiatry Department at Dalhousie University, and laboratories elsewhere are duplicating his studies, which have been documented in more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Addictive Behaviors and Clinical Psychology Review. Although long-term data are not yet available, Zvolensky hopes his research will lead to targeted, more effective methods to help people with panic sensitivities quit the habit and in some cases, help them to avoid developing the disorder in the first place.

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Contact: Lynda Majarian
lynda.majarian@uvm.edu
802-656-1107
University of Vermont
11-Nov-2004