Effectiveness of mental footnotes in the cognitive therapy for panic attack: two case-studies

Abstract

New findings in the area of experimental, cognitive psychology point out that the implicit meanings determine the information that is being processed. The so-called mental footnotes can even modify the path trajectory in a driving task. This influence has been proposed to go beyond this kind of task. Mental footnotes have been proposed as determining factors in the information processing in specific psychopatological syndromes. The objective of this study is to evaluate the adequacy of applying these implicit pieces of information, in form of mental footnotes, to stop the series of catastrophic thoughts in the panic attack syndrome. Following the theory of mental models and the iconic representation of the real world, two cases of panic attack have been treated. By using the negation illusory-reality technique, a mental footnote of this does not have to happen was added to the catastrophic representation of the world in patients with this syndrome. As a result, these two patients have not reported panic attacks in, at least, 2 year after the last session of therapy. A deeper study of the efficacy of this technique is encouraged in order to be recommended for the treatment of patients who suffer from panic attacks.

Keywords

• Panic attack
• Cognitive therapy
• Mental footnote
• Mental models