Prominent people with panic

What do Kim Basinger and Earl Campbell have in common? They are both famous, she as an academy-award-winning movie star and he as one of the greatest running backs in the history of the University of Texas and the National Football League, but you probably can't think of much else.

However, they have more than fame in common; both discussed on national television their difficulties with panic disorder. Kim was almost completely disabled until, by chance, she heard a discussion of panic disorder on the radio and learned that there were people who could help her. She had thought it was all up to her, and that she was "going crazy." She contacted Dr. Ronald Doctor, who worked with her to bring her panic under control without the use of medication. (Either medication or cognitive-behavioral therapy alone brings panic disorder under control in 80 to 90 percent of the cases; using both together or in succession, if the first approach fails to work, probably does a little better.) Kim's final appraisal of her situation was both amusing and inspiring, "If I die, it sure as hell won't be of panic disorder."

Earl Campbell's case is especially interesting because his panic occurred in a giant of a man who was a superlative athlete. We weaker mortals would think that he would fear nothing. Yet one day as he was sitting at a traffic light, he was suddenly overcome with a panic that seemed to come out of nowhere. The panic recurred, making his life so miserable that one day on a hunting expedition he considered taking his own life with the .270-caliber rifle that he was carrying. Like Kim, Earl now has his panic under control, at least enough to be an eloquent spokesman for people with panic disorder. We owe Kim and Earl a vote of thanks for describing their panic and what they did about it.

Seeing such talented and successful people have psychological problems ought to convince anyone that there is no stigma associated with having problems. Also,  it is clearly a mark of intelligence and strength to employ the services of people who know how to treat problems. You wouldn't try to remove your own appendix, nor should you rely on yourself to remove chronic panic attacks.