Over the past ~4 years as I’ve been digging into human psychology I’ve been trying to find a way to conceptualize panic attacks. I’ve talked to a variety of therapists, I’ve read all sorts of frameworks, cognitive behavioral therapy, internal family systems, the mind body connection… but I think I just found it in a book on sexual health of all things.

Here is the idea… This book walks through stress responses (as that is certainly very relevant to sexual responsiveness) and it discusses where these stress responses come from and how they function with the metaphor of being chased by a Lion. Then the author talks about self criticism and says… “you become the Lion”, and boom, that’s it!

A panic attack is this sort of downward spiral that you can’t escape from. Imagine you are in a fear state as you are being chased by a Lion… but you are the Lion. You can run faster and faster but the Lion will still always be there. ...I can feel my heart rate increasing as I type! That’s it!

And so if we have an analogy that works, that gives us a solution of sorts. Stop being the Lion.