| Summary: | Martin M. Antony works with a 28-year-old female client who is experiencing increasing difficulties with anxiety and panic attacks. The client's panic attacks are triggered by specific worries about the well-being of her husband and infant daughter as well as her ability to juggle these caretaking responsibilities with full-time graduate work. She engages in a range of maladaptive safety behaviors that alleviate her anxiety in the short term but exacerbate the underlying issue. In this first session of six, Antony conducts a pre-exposure assessment and outlines three cognitive-behavioral therapy goals for the client: (a) decrease her worry, (b) eliminate the panic attacks, and (c) learn to reduce self-pressure. For the first homework assignment, the client is given two books on anxiety and panic attacks, as an adjunct to therapy, and is asked to track her thoughts, physical symptoms, and avoidance or distraction behaviors.
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