Overcoming Panic Attacks
Overview
Based on first-hand experience, Ray Comfort offers practical principles to help others overcome panic attacks. Ray shares how he was able to conquer paralyzing, irrational fear, overcome despair, restore peace, joy, and confidence and live fully again. He is confident that, if you suffer from panic attacks, his discovery of the scriptural way out of them will work for you.
Top Highlights
“Breathe deeply from your diaphragm. You can also practice a special type of breathing. This is a breathing that goes deep into your diaphragm (the area below your chest). The out breath must be longer that the in breath. This causes stimulation of the part of your nervous system responsible for relaxation. If you breathe in this way then your body will have no choice but to relax.” (Pages 15–16)
“There were terrible problems at work, at home, and even in his church. Everything had suddenly gone wrong. I looked him in the eye and asked, ‘You didn’t pray that God would ‘break’ you, did you?’1 He looked back at me and said, ‘I asked God to break me and grind me to powder …’” (Page 22)
“God takes us through the fires of persecution, tribulation, and temptation to purify us, not to burn us. He takes us through water to cleanse us, not to drown us.” (Page 46)
“If God in His great wisdom sees fit to use the Refiner’s fire (if He takes you through a fiery trial), then it is only ‘if need be’ (see 1 Peter 1:6). Pray that you may avoid it, but this is often normal procedure in being prepared to be used by the Lord. A wild horse is no good to a rider. It can’t be trusted. It needs its spirit broken so that it will willingly yield to the desire of the rider. So, let me share with you a few words of comfort so that if you are finding that you are hanging over a dark chasm of insanity by the spider web of faith, you will know why, and you will realize that the web is unbreakable.” (Pages 29–30)
“Don’t fall into discouragement, which is essentially a lack of faith in God. Dis-couragment is your courage taken from you. Don’t let that happen to you. Keep the faith. If you let your arms hang down in depression instead of rejoicing that God is working all things out for your good, you are saying that God isn’t faithful, that His promises aren’t worth believing, that He is actually a liar. There is no greater insult to God than to not believe His promises. The result of unbelief will be depression, discouragement, self-pity, and resentment, then bitterness, which you will end up spreading to others.” (Pages 47–48)
- Title: Overcoming Panic Attacks
- Author: Ray Comfort
- Publisher: Bridge-Logos
- Publication Date: 2005
- Pages: 99
Ray Comfort (1949–) is a Christian author, evangelist, and television host. After being ordained as a full-time pastor, Comfort spent three and a half years pastoring in Christchurch, New Zealand, and 12 years preaching in the city’s Speaker’s Corner.
Around 1974, Comfort started Living Waters Publications, which began as a free evangelistic newspaper with Gospel tracts. In 1989, he joined the pastoral staff at Calvary Chapel in California.
Comfort cohosts the television program The Way of the Master with Kirk Cameron, on which they teach viewers how to share their faith and address difficult situations and questions. He has written over 60 books, including The School of Biblical Evangelism, God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists, How to Win Souls & Influence People, and several other titles about the importance of evangelism, which appear in the Ray Comfort Collection (4 vols.).
Reviews
6 ratings
Wayne Anderson
8/21/2017
Cindy
8/11/2015
Glenn Crouch
10/1/2014
This book starts off very good, and then gets a bit preachy. It does have some good advice, and it made it to 3 stars because the Author made good use of Spurgeon, whom I've always found beneficial when depressed and/or panicky. Sadly I felt the Author did add too much "shotgun theology" at the end - by that I mean he seems to want to quickly cover many points, including arguing for Immersion Baptism in a couple of paragraphs. In such a short book, why bother cheesing off all us Infant Baptising Christians. Whilst I don't think the author intends it, the last two chapters almost come across that unless you have the particular type of Christian belief of the Author (at a guess I would say American Baptist of some flavour) then you are letting yourself down by not having a good defense against or support during things such as Panic Attacks :( Even that said, there are still a handful of quite worthwhile sections in those last chapters.
Victor Robidas
6/21/2014
I was interested in finding out just how much the evangelicals understood Panic Attacks wondering if they had the required knowledge to fully explain the physiological result of triggers, which are either external or internal to initiating the Fright, Flight or Fight Response. Otherwise known as Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA). The answer to my query was quickly answered in the first few paragraphs of the first page of this book.... I was disappointed because it became clear to me that this author did not understand the basics of the HPA Axis whether a threat existed or the body reacted to a perceived threat who's origin may not even be clear to a person suffering from Panic Attacks.... As a person who seriously studied this subject for years, I would imagine that there would be a great % failure in helping someone reduce their PA's by how it is explained in this book... A person, usually understands fear, if they come across something like an angry, hungry bear while they are walking through the bush... Through the senses (eyes and ears) and a little knowledge of the dangerous situation they are in, the Hypothalamus recognizes the threat and triggers a response designed to prepare the body to either stay and fight or run as fast as it can... Fear, of course, is perceived in the emotional center of the brain, known as the Limbic System and the sub-frontal cortex of the brain. In such a case, the person who experiences this fear and the physiological response along with it's signs and symptoms knows why the body responds this way... What they don't know, is what the response actually is at the hormonal level. The same hormones that trigger the release of Adrenaline (Epinephrine in the US) and Cortisol... Each of those hormones which are released from the Adrenal glands are going to target the nervous system in a way to prepare for this possible defensive scenario.. Anyone who finds themselves in that situation will feel panic, but as they choose how they will respond, the body has already prepared itself for that decision... Experience will reduce the panic to just fear or to an intelligent response that will not require the body to respond any further.. That is what our bodies are designed to do, just like any animal which reacts instinctively to either catch and consume a prey, or to run away from being consumed..... In humans, it is a little more complicated.. The response can be initiated by a real threat, or just by thinking too much in the middle of the night.... In humans, this response can be initiated while they are sitting on a chair talking, and suddenly an overwhelming dread of impending doom strikes them.. (This, by definition is what a Panic Attack is.) I could go on and explain what happens when this response is triggered internally, but than I'd be writing the book... One thing that is important to understand, the response to a real threat physiologically will be exactly the same response to a perceived threat by the Hypothalamus... So that person, who suddenly feels fear, will have no idea why the heart is suddenly beating faster and harder, why suddenly the limbs are becoming restless because they have now prepared themselves to fight or run away, or why suddenly there are stomach cramps, especially if your eating... All they know is that something is wrong.... but to them it is real... How often have I seen Christians who suffer from this awful response, try and get help from their church leaders only to be told, you need to turn to God? Have you read your bible today? Are you in communion with God? That Christian is made to feel as if they did something wrong, for instance lack of faith or the suggestion that it is their fault.... Elders, Pastors or whatever name leaders are given are not Doctors, Psychiatrists or Psychologists. They did not get education on the biology of psychology! They know their bibles, they can quote comforting verses, but fail to comprehend exactly what is happening internally to a person who suffers from this illness.
David Leslie Bond
11/20/2013
Pastor Brandon Gatzke
7/27/2013
