Table Of ContentPraise for Panic Free
“Tom Bunn uses his decades of flying experience and advanced
education in clinical social work to provide an all-encompassing
approach to panic. Bunn’s holistic approach precisely addresses
the biological factors involved in the panic response and pro-
vides tools to regulate the intensity of feelings and overcome
their effects. This is a must-read!”
— Donald Arthur, MD, vice admiral, US Navy (retired),
and 35th Navy surgeon general
“A treasured gift for sufferers of anxiety and panic, with detailed
techniques supported by proven science, Panic Free takes readers
by the hand to help them successfully triumph over feelings of
anxiety and panic.”
— Athena Carr, school psychologist
“Tom Bunn’s program is remarkably effective and liberates anyone
suffering with panic and anxiety. His versatile ten-day program is
anchored in physiological and psychological research and can be
applied to any of life’s panic- and anxiety-inducing events.”
— Walter A. Figiel, MBA, SOAR program graduate
“I am both a fearful flyer and a practicing psychotherapist, and I
have found Panic Free to be extremely helpful in both arenas. As
a psychotherapist, I recommend the book for my patients with
anxiety of any kind, and we practice the techniques during ther-
apy sessions with highly effective results. I especially appreciate
that Panic Free is based on the latest brain research and under-
standing of how the human mind works. My patients and I both
thank you, Tom Bunn!”
— David Lundin, MA, LLP, LPC
“Thanks to Tom Bunn’s teaching, I can control my panic anxiety
without medication for the first time....Bunn’s clear and vivid
explanation of how our brains, hormones, and conditioning
create panic and how we can use vagal braking to control panic
provides clear steps for positive change.”
— Morra Aarons-Mele, author of Hiding in the Bathroom
and founder of Women Online
“Allows everyone to embrace their full potential with specific, fo-
cused, clearly explained, and practical steps to break free from
panic attacks. Hurry, buy the book and transform your life.”
— Marla Friedman, PsyD, PC, licensed psychologist
and Badge of Life board chairman
“Provides a method for overcoming even extreme anxiety that
works. I know from personal experience.”
— Carole, whose story about going through tunnels
is included in Panic Free
“Captain Tom’s unique capacity to use clinical examples and sim-
ple analogies allows him to render even the most complex neu-
roscientific information in a way that is both comprehensible
and fun to read.”
— Judith Pearson, PhD, director,
International Masterson Institute
“A reader-friendly guide to becoming anxiety free using an in-
novative, scientifically sound, and experience-tested method.
Moreover, this approach is very simple to implement. I have
used this technique both in my clinical practice and personally,
and found it very useful and effective. Anyone who is suffering
from anxiety should read this book.”
— Olga Savina, PhD, psychotherapist
“Through Captain Tom’s fear-of-flying program, I was able to
overcome my phobia of flying, which I had for forty-one years.
Captain Tom’s book Panic Free expands upon his proven tech-
nique to help others with a variety of anxiety-producing fears
and panic.”
— Wanda Dougherty, SOAR program graduate
PANIC
FREE
PAN I C
Also by Tom Bunn
SOAR: The Breakthrough Treatment for Fear of Flying
FRE E
PAN I C
FRE E
The 10-Day Program to End
Panic, Anxiety, and Claustrophobia
TOM BUNN, lcsw
Afterword by Stephen W. Porges, PhD
New World Library
Novato, California
New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, California 94949
Copyright © 2019 by Tom Bunn
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic,
mechanical, or other — without written permission from the publisher, except
by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the
place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist.
No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommenda-
tions can be given or liability taken.
Text design by Tona Pearce Myers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bunn, Tom, author.
Title: Panic free : the ten-day program to end panic, anxiety, and claustrophobia /
Tom Bunn, LCSW.
Description: Novato, California : New World Library, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018046216 (print) | LCCN 2018046739 (ebook) | ISBN
9781608686063 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608686056 (print : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Panic disorders--Popular works. | Panic disorders--Treatment.
Classification: LCC RC535 (ebook) | LCC RC535 .B86 2019 (print) | DDC
616.85/223--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018046216
First printing, April 2019
ISBN 978-1-60868-605-6
Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-606-3
Printed in the United States on 50% postconsumer-waste recycled paper
New World Library is proud to be a Gold Certified Environmentally
Responsible Publisher. Publisher certification awarded by Green Press
Initiative.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the many panic sufferers who,
despite expecting that nothing would work,
had the courage to try one more time
Contents
Part I. Your Introduction to Automatic Control
chapter 1. A Future Free of Panic and Claustrophobia 3
chapter 2. The Panic-Proof Part of Your Brain 11
Part II. Situational Control of Panic and Claustrophobia
chapter 3. Carole’s Holland Tunnel Challenge 17
chapter 4. How Carole Used a Memory to Calm
Herself Automatically 23
chapter 5. How Arousal Regulation Works 27
chapter 6. Control Panic and Claustrophobia
with Vagal Braking 37
chapter 7. Control Panic and Claustrophobia with Oxytocin 43
Part III. Regulation of Arousal
chapter 8. Accepting Arousal as Normal 49
chapter 9. How Feelings of Security and Insecurity Develop 57
chapter 10. Arousal Regulation Systems 67
chapter 11. The Arousal Regulation Hierarchy 75
Description:What if you could stop panic by tapping into a different part of your brain? After years of working to help sufferers of panic and anxiety, licensed therapist (and pilot) Tom Bunn discovered a highly effective solution that utilizes a part of the brain not affected by the stress hormones that bombar
