We all experience emotions—some pleasant, some deeply uncomfortable. While it’s natural to prefer the good over the difficult, emotional discomfort is an unavoidable part of being human. The challenge isn’t whether we feel distress, but how we respond to it. What Is Distress Intolerance? Distress intolerance refers to a perceived inability to handle uncomfortable emotions. It’s not just disliking distress—it’s feeling like you can’t  tolerate it and must escape it immediately. This can apply...

Reaching the end of a journey with panic attacks is no small thing. If you’ve been working through strategies to manage anxiety, you’ve likely already begun to notice something important: change doesn’t come from eliminating anxiety altogether, but from changing your relationship with it. Understanding the Panic Cycle One of the most important insights from cognitive-behavioural therapy is how panic sustains itself. A trigger—whether internal (like a racing heart) or external (like a...

By this point, you may already understand what panic attacks feel like, how to challenge anxious thoughts, and why avoidance keeps anxiety alive. But there’s another, often overlooked factor that quietly maintains panic: safety behaviours. What Are Safety Behaviours? Safety behaviours are the subtle things we do to prevent panic or feel “safer” when anxiety shows up. They’re not always obvious. In fact, many feel logical—even helpful. Examples include: Carrying medication “just in case”...