SECONDARY CONDITIONS OF ANXIETY DISORDERS: PAUL’S AND JULIE’S STORIES
Paul
Paul sat on the side of the hospital bed. He was being discharged after a night in hospital for observation because he felt as if he were having a heart attack. The specialist had told him he had not had a heart attack, but a panic attack. Paul had tried to tell the specialist that of course he had panicked. He had felt terrible and thought he was going to die. Surely, he thought, it was normal to panic under those circumstances.
The end of Julie’s shift was in sight. Another hour and she could go home, but first she had to hand over to the nurses on afternoon shift. She felt her stomach tighten and her anxiety increase. Julie had never had problems talking in front of other people before but the thought of hand-over today terrified her. She remembered the last few weeks and how it had become increasingly difficult for her to appear ‘normal’. Julie had had her first panic attack at work. Although she knew what was wrong with her, she was having enormous difficulty trying to ‘pull herself together’. She couldn’t control what was happening to her. She knew the other nurses wouldn’t understand if they found out. Julie felt she couldn’t go to any of the doctors at the hospital where she worked, as she was frightened they would make her resign.
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