During an attack there is little room for rationalization or self- education. Learning about what is actually happening to your body, and your pereptions of that upheaval, can only occur, benefically, between attacks. Since there is no danger, then you should try to find what it is that you think is threatening you ( again, between attacks). Is it fear of loss of control? (that will not, despite your fears, happen). Is it fear of sudden, impending death? (the attack will not bring death.) The panic is caused by your perceptions of the body's reaction to too much (a sudden surge) adrenalin. The adenalin surge was triggered falsely because some thing (doesn't matter what) set off the false alarm. There is no danger: Try to get this perspective correct when you are in a periods of quiesence.
If you are taking Xanax and have been for over 6 months, and still having anxiety attacks, then I would say the Xanax is serving as a preventative from recovery by allowing you to place you faith in the drug instead of reality---which is: there is no danger.
I had a few panic attacks when I was an undergraduate and they are indeed terrifying--I feared impending sudden death...that was 40 years ago. It was, as you can see, a false alarm.
Good luck.
"If you are taking Xanax and have been for over 6 months, and still having anxiety attacks, then I would say the Xanax is serving as a preventative from recovery by allowing you to place you faith in the drug instead of reality---which is: there is no danger."
I've only been taking it for a month and a half right now. It has two purposes right now though. I haven't needed it for several weeks because I haven't been having anxiety attacks but I pulled a muscle in my neck so the doctor told m to just use the xanax I already have for a muscle relaxer and gave me a pain medication to work along with it. It's a really bad muscle pull and without a doubt a 10 on the pain scale level. Even with the strong pain med and the xanax to help it, it's still very painful but there isn't much more he can do on top of that. I just have to wait it out and take the meds when it's unbearable.