More women experience anxiety but men experience it too! I had dinner with a male friend a couple of weeks ago and we talked a lot about our lives. On the surface he appears as a very successful salesman but inside he suffers from a ton of anxiety. Now a single father of three girls, his job entails a ton of pressure and he constantly pushes himself to be more and more successful. I understand that men have a lot of pressure to bring home the bacon whether for themselves or their family but when he confided in me that he suffers panic attacks when at home by himself I really wanted to help him.

He now has the girls 50% of the time and hates that his family is broken apart. He tries to bring stablity to the girls and wants to be the best dad he can be but there’s no question, it’s hard being a single parent. When he doesn’t have the girls he is working hard trying to meet his quota. He hates that his self esteem takes a dive if his numbers are down at work. He constantly measures his value by how much he sells. When he’s up he’s really up but when he’s down he’s really down. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, he appears very confident, handsome and self assured. He has a nice house, lots of friends, donates to a lot of important charities and goes to many social functions. But he admitted those quiet nights at home can be terrifying. The thoughts that swirl around his head are “what if I lose it all?” He came from a very poor upbringing and worked hard to be where he is but with sales it’s never a sure thing. To him losing it all sends him into a state of frenzy. He feels sick to his stomach and gets so wound up that he told me on several occasions he has literally trembled with crazy thoughts going through his mind like “what if I die?”

I introduced the Panic Away program to my friend and I have to admit he was a little hesitant. At first he was determined to deal with it on his own, but then I asked him if he’s tried anything to get better and he sat quietly without an answer. I told him that Panic Away has really helped thousands of people and to just give it a try. He said to me that he’s exhausted from all of the anxious thoughts and finally is at the point where he really wants to deal with it and is willing to take the steps to do so, fantastic!