When Anxiety Feels Like a Medical Emergency: Why the Usual Advice Falls Short

Picture this: your heart races out of nowhere. Your chest feels tight. Maybe you get dizzy or lightheaded. Your stomach cramps, churns, or flips in ways that feel alarming. In that moment, it feels like something is really wrong—maybe a heart attack, maybe a serious GI issue, maybe something you can’t explain but you are sure is dangerous.

You rush to the ER. Tests come back normal. “Everything looks fine,” they say.

But it doesn’t feel fine.

So you keep searching for answers. You ask your doctor for more tests. You check in with friends and family for reassurance. You Google your symptoms late at night, scrolling through terrifying worst-case scenarios. Maybe you even start counseling. And what do you hear over and over again?

• “You need to practice relaxation.”

• “Try deep breathing techniques.”

• “Do mindfulness to calm yourself down.”

Sound familiar? Here’s the truth: none of these are the real solution.

• Breathing and relaxation strategies can backfire—either by becoming safety behaviors or by teaching avoidance. Both convince your brain that sensations are dangerous, which only fuels more fear.

• Mindfulness, while powerful, is often taught wrong. The goal isn’t to relax—it’s to notice sensations without judgment, not to fight or fix them.​

This is where Anxiety & OCD Behavioral Health Center (AOBHC) does things differently.

There’s a better way to respond to uncomfortable sensations — and it starts with evidence-based care.

The Treatment Most People Have Never Heard Of: Interoceptive Exposure.

At AOBHC, we use a gold-standard, research-backed approach called Interoceptive Exposure (IE). Instead of avoiding uncomfortable body sensations, we practice them on purpose—in a safe, guided way.

That means things like:

• Spinning in a chair to bring on dizziness

• Running in place to feel your heart race

• Breathing through a straw to feel short of breath​

Why? Because your brain learns: These sensations aren’t dangerous. I can handle them.

It may sound strange—even counterintuitive—but decades of research show this works. A recent scoping review published in Psychological Bulletin (Farris, Derby, & Kibbey, 2025) pulled together 132 studies on IE across conditions like panic disorder, PTSD, health anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), benzodiazepine discontinuation, and smoking cessation. The results were clear:

• IE is safe (no serious adverse events reported).

• IE is effective—especially when part of evidence-based CBT.

• IE is underused because too many clinicians aren’t trained or avoid it due to misplaced fears

What Does Interoceptive Exposure Look Like?

Interoceptive exposure (IE) involves intentionally triggering uncomfortable internal sensations to reduce fear and avoidance. Here are a few examples:

Panic disorder or health anxiety: spin in a chair, run in place, or breathe through a straw to mimic dizziness or shortness of breath. Purpose: to teach the body that panic-like sensations aren’t dangerous.
PTSD: hold your breath, tense muscles, or briefly hyperventilate. Purpose: to reduce fear of trauma-linked body sensations.
IBS: eat small amounts of feared foods or tighten abdominal muscles to simulate GI discomfort. Purpose: to normalize gut sensations and reduce avoidance.
Benzodiazepine discontinuation: practice tolerating sensations like dizziness, tremors, or muscle tension. Purpose: to reduce fear of withdrawal symptoms.
Insomnia: stay awake while experiencing body heat or light exposure. Purpose: to break the fear cycle associated with nighttime sensations.
Chronic pain: engage in gentle stretches or light lifting. Purpose: to retrain the brain’s response to pain signals.
Smoking cessation: mimic cravings by holding your breath or imagining cigarette smells and tastes. Purpose: to learn that cravings are temporary and not emergencies.

Is It Safe for Children? Absolutely.

IE isn’t just for adults—it’s been adapted safely and effectively for kids.

Functional Abdominal Pain (ages 5–9): Kids became “Feeling and Body Investigators,” playfully exploring sensations like stomachaches or dizziness. Pain, distress, and anxiety all dropped significantly (Zucker et al., 2017).

ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, ages 4–10): Children practiced hunger, fullness, and gagging sensations through cartoon-guided IE. Results included improved eating, less avoidance, and even a successful transition off a feeding tube (Zucker et al., 2018).

IE helps kids trust their bodies instead of fearing them—and it does so safely.

Expert Guidance Matters

It is highly recommended that you begin interoceptive exposure with a trained therapist. These exercises are designed to bring up discomfort, and having professional guidance at the start ensures they are introduced safely, effectively, and tailored to your needs. Once you’ve learned the approach in session, practicing exposures on your own as homework is often part of the process. At AOBHC, we specialize in providing that expert support to get you started on the right path.

What This Means for You

If you’ve been told to just “relax,” but your body still hijacks you with symptoms, it’s not because you’re failing. It’s because you haven’t been offered the right treatment.
At AOBHC, we don’t just hand out coping tricks. We use evidence-based therapies like Interoceptive Exposure to retrain your brain and body so those terrifying sensations no longer control your life.

Takeaway

• Feeling dizzy, short of breath, or like your stomach is in knots doesn’t mean you’re in danger.

• You don’t need another relaxation app. You need the right treatment.

• Interoceptive Exposure is a proven, safe, and highly effective way to break free from the cycle of fear and avoidance.

And yes—we do this treatment here at Anxiety & OCD Behavioral Health Center.

If you’re tired of ER trips, reassurance-seeking, Googling symptoms, and advice that doesn’t work, reach out. There’s a better way forward.

References

Farris, S.G., Derby, L., & Kibbey, M.M. (2025). Getting comfortable with physical discomfort: A scoping review of interoceptive exposure in physical and mental health conditions. Psychological Bulletin, 15, 131–191.

Zucker, N., La Via, M. et al. (2018). Feeling and body investigators (FBI) – ARFID division: An acceptance-based interoceptive exposure treatment for children with ARFID. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 52(4), 466–472.

Zucker, N., Mauro, C. et al. (2017). Acceptance-based interoceptive exposure for young children with functional abdominal pain. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 97, 200–212.

With clarity and compassion,