Why are panic attacks so widespread today? What relationship exists between this acute symptom and contemporary society? What new insights and methods can Gestalt psychotherapy offer in order to face up to and resolve this problem? This book was written with the aim of answering these questions by considering panic attacks both as an expression of personal history and as a phenomenon emerging from a historical period characterized by uncertainty, fragmentation, and complexity. Panic attacks can be read as symptoms of a widespread and indefinite social malaise, a manifestation of the fragility and of the knotty problems that characterize the postmodern context. Clinical discourse is interwoven with a social outlook throughout the text, since both of these perspectives are necessary for those who wish to understand and care for those suffering from this disorder. From this point of view, panic is revealed to be an acute and sometimes unbearable condition that nonetheless can provide a valuable opportunity for opening up new avenues of experience in the individual's life. Panic attacks can represent the beginning of a journey that will lead the patient toward different and more up-to-date creative solutions.
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