The Working on the emotion of anger in panic disorder: a phenomenological-existential and Gestalt psychotherapy approach

Abstract

Panic disorder is currently one of the most widespread anxiety disorders in Western countries. The authors, psychologists and Gestalt psychotherapists, have observed in their psychotherapeutic settings some recurring tendencies in people who report panic attack symptoms. In the narratives of the latter there is often a failure to assume clear and defined positions within one's emotional, relational and professional life. In addition to being a manifestation of anxiety and fear, the authors hypothesize that in panic disorder there is existential and relational distress connected to inadequate anger management. The frequently reported experience concerns the inability to refuse to do something you don't want and the consequent sense of frustration and anxiety. According to a vision of Gestalt therapy, a person feels anger when he does not get what he wants, or when he finds himself in a territorial conflict. From here derive the different actions relating to the manifestation of anger itself. This article illustrates a proposal for an intervention study on the expression of the experience of anger connected to panic attacks. From a phenomenological-descriptive perspective, the authors will collect the lived experience of anger connected to panic disorder through a semi-structured interview. The information collected will be useful to outline the elements of a descriptive psychopathology of anger connected to panic disorder in a Gestalt perspective.