Question:
Hi Folks, I’m somewhat exhausted at the moment, so this initial description of the 2006 Panic Conference will be very brief. I will elaborate on details later. And, in time, the proceedings will be made freely available to everyone, as we have always done. The conference was disappointingly small this year. However, this year’s presentations were among the best of this conference’s history. For a number of reasons, we had a lot of last minute cancellations and had to scale back the usually two-day conference to a one-day event. Further practical issues compelled us to abandon the usual coffee breaks and lunch break, so all of the presentations ran consecutively, without formal breaks. This amounted to a rather intense academic experience. J. Sakyiama presented "Panic Disorder: How Much Do We Know?" Using a survey, he had conducted a study of perceptions of panic attacks amongst university students. Specifically, he compared perceptions of students majoring in psychology, biochemistry and computer science. He further compared these perceptions against literature on panic attacks. Discipline differences were sometimes as expected, sometimes not. Overall, most had reasonable ideas of panic symptoms, yet panic was mostly viewed as "psychological" in nature, with little acknowledgement of medical or neurological aspects. Q. Wu presented "Panic Attacks in Children from Scary Advertisements On Television." Her study showed good evidence that frightening TV ads could traumatize unsupervised children. She then described practices that parents could employ to reduce such effects; parental supervision and comfort, distraction techniques, etc. D. Sinclair presented "Stopping a Panic Attack by Decreasing the Carbon Dioxide in Inhaled Air." His study wasn’t simply a rehash of CO2 based "suffocation alarm" theory. He described two different CO2 alarm systems (one involving receptors in the Aorta and another involving receptors in the Medulla, how they interacted and how they explained apparently paradoxical reactions to CO2 relating to panic attacks). R. Duda presented "Panic Attacks in Soldiers in Combat Situations." As a military psychiatrist treating soldiers in current war zones, his talk was an excellent description of modern military psychiatry; including case studies and personal anecdotes. Naturally, anxiety disorders are expected in combat situations and often suggest lessons for civilian anxiety disorders. Following our formal presentations, I was asked to speak some concluding remarks. Such remarks are supposed to be brief and I was only given a few days prior to prepare. For guidance, I asked the thoughts of my fellow patients in the groups ASAP and ASAP-M. My fellow patients asked me to express the severity of panic attacks, and comment on medications. My concluding remarks addressed that the most common beliefs of panic attacks were often based on mild to moderate cases. The popular beliefs that panic attacks were "frightening, but not dangerous" and that panic attacks were "highly treatable" I acknowledged as true for most cases, yet took serious issue with regarding severe or chronic cases. I did explain that severe panic attacks were much like long-lasting conscious seizures. I also noted that many recent studies indicated that prolonged job stress (blue-collar, white-collar or otherwise) have been associated with ill health, so why should the stress of prolonged and frequent panic attacks be any different? Well, that’s the short and simple version of what I said. The conference, proper, ended about mid-afternoon. Some people left. Those of us who stayed quickly gathered to embrace discussions that waxed and waned from technical to friendly. We were also hungry, so we ordered some pizzas and the like delivered to the conference suites (a new and amusing first for the conference’s four year history). We enjoyed each other’s company for a few hours more. Eventually, however, we had to end the day, knowing that most of us had to return to distant countries. Such good-byes are always bittersweet. Overall, the conference was strangely successful. Despite misfortune and low attendance, we had great presenters and great material to add to our proceedings. And, after all, our greatest audience is the readers of the proceedings. Somehow, our twisted altruistic notions had apparently panned out one more time. Best Wishes, Arthur — The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
Response:
Interesting stuff Arthur. The public speaking aspect of the conference didn’t cause you any anxiety? Where was the conference? — Doug
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Folks, I’m somewhat exhausted at the moment, so this initial description of the 2006 Panic Conference will be very brief. I will elaborate on details later. And, in time, the proceedings will be made freely available to everyone, as we have always done. The conference was disappointingly small this year. However, this year’s presentations were among the best of this conference’s history. For a number of reasons, we had a lot of last minute cancellations and had to scale back the usually two-day conference to a one-day event. Further practical issues compelled us to abandon the usual coffee breaks and lunch break, so all of the presentations ran consecutively, without formal breaks. This amounted to a rather intense academic experience. J. Sakyiama presented "Panic Disorder: How Much Do We Know?" Using a survey, he had conducted a study of perceptions of panic attacks amongst university students. Specifically, he compared perceptions of students majoring in psychology, biochemistry and computer science. He further compared these perceptions against literature on panic attacks. Discipline differences were sometimes as expected, sometimes not. Overall, most had reasonable ideas of panic symptoms, yet panic was mostly viewed as "psychological" in nature, with little acknowledgement of medical or neurological aspects. Q. Wu presented "Panic Attacks in Children from Scary Advertisements On Television." Her study showed good evidence that frightening TV ads could traumatize unsupervised children. She then described practices that parents could employ to reduce such effects; parental supervision and comfort, distraction techniques, etc. D. Sinclair presented "Stopping a Panic Attack by Decreasing the Carbon Dioxide in Inhaled Air." His study wasn’t simply a rehash of CO2 based "suffocation alarm" theory. He described two different CO2 alarm systems (one involving receptors in the Aorta and another involving receptors in the Medulla, how they interacted and how they explained apparently paradoxical reactions to CO2 relating to panic attacks). R. Duda presented "Panic Attacks in Soldiers in Combat Situations." As a military psychiatrist treating soldiers in current war zones, his talk was an excellent description of modern military psychiatry; including case studies and personal anecdotes. Naturally, anxiety disorders are expected in combat situations and often suggest lessons for civilian anxiety disorders. Following our formal presentations, I was asked to speak some concluding remarks. Such remarks are supposed to be brief and I was only given a few days prior to prepare. For guidance, I asked the thoughts of my fellow patients in the groups ASAP and ASAP-M. My fellow patients asked me to express the severity of panic attacks, and comment on medications. My concluding remarks addressed that the most common beliefs of panic attacks were often based on mild to moderate cases. The popular beliefs that panic attacks were "frightening, but not dangerous" and that panic attacks were "highly treatable" I acknowledged as true for most cases, yet took serious issue with regarding severe or chronic cases. I did explain that severe panic attacks were much like long-lasting conscious seizures. I also noted that many recent studies indicated that prolonged job stress (blue-collar, white-collar or otherwise) have been associated with ill health, so why should the stress of prolonged and frequent panic attacks be any different? Well, that’s the short and simple version of what I said. The conference, proper, ended about mid-afternoon. Some people left. Those of us who stayed quickly gathered to embrace discussions that waxed and waned from technical to friendly. We were also hungry, so we ordered some pizzas and the like delivered to the conference suites (a new and amusing first for the conference’s four year history). We enjoyed each other’s company for a few hours more. Eventually, however, we had to end the day, knowing that most of us had to return to distant countries. Such good-byes are always bittersweet. Overall, the conference was strangely successful. Despite misfortune and low attendance, we had great presenters and great material to add to our proceedings. And, after all, our greatest audience is the readers of the proceedings. Somehow, our twisted altruistic notions had apparently panned out one more time. Best Wishes, Arthur — The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
– The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
Response:
Interesting stuff Arthur. The public speaking aspect of the conference didn’t cause you any anxiety?
Of course it caused me anxiety, just not crippling anxiety. Where was the conference?
Philadelphia. Best Wishes, Arthur — The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
Response:
Hi, Arthur, I hope you have had a chance to get rested up a bit from the weekend.
I’m still unwinding. These events tend to drain me and I end up going through a recovery period. That’s a shame you had cancellations but we all know how easy it can be to initially sign up for an event such as this and as the time nears think, "What the h*ll have I gotten myself into."
Most of the cancellations seemed to be for various practical reasons. Travel complications, priority conflicts or the like. That was nice that you had time to kick back, relax and enjoy the company of others from different countries.
That’s always a plus. Wonderful people come from every culture. Best Wishes, Arthur — The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
Response:
Dear Arthur,
Hi Jackie, I look forward to reading your detailed account of the conference. Sorry to hear that the turnout was low.
In an ironic sense, and for many reasons, the low turnout was probably a good thing. I’ll try to explain this better in my later detailed account. Rest up and take it easy, you deserve it!
Thank you. Much follow-up work to do, namely regarding the conference proceedings, but I will rest for a short while. Yet, don’t be surprised if "Count Arthur ov Pennsylvania" appears from time to time this month. After all, "Vhat iz Halloveen vithout zome goot books?" 
Very Best Vishes, Arthur — The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
Response:
Hi, Arthur, I hope you have had a chance to get rested up a bit from the weekend. That’s a shame you had cancellations but we all know how easy it can be to initially sign up for an event such as this and as the time nears think, "What the h*ll have I gotten myself into." That was nice that you had time to kick back, relax and enjoy the company of others from different countries. smiles, Elise
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Folks, I’m somewhat exhausted at the moment, so this initial description of the 2006 Panic Conference will be very brief. I will elaborate on details later. And, in time, the proceedings will be made freely available to everyone, as we have always done. The conference was disappointingly small this year. However, this year’s presentations were among the best of this conference’s history. For a number of reasons, we had a lot of last minute cancellations and had to scale back the usually two-day conference to a one-day event. Further practical issues compelled us to abandon the usual coffee breaks and lunch break, so all of the presentations ran consecutively, without formal breaks. This amounted to a rather intense academic experience. J. Sakyiama presented "Panic Disorder: How Much Do We Know?" Using a survey, he had conducted a study of perceptions of panic attacks amongst university students. Specifically, he compared perceptions of students majoring in psychology, biochemistry and computer science. He further compared these perceptions against literature on panic attacks. Discipline differences were sometimes as expected, sometimes not. Overall, most had reasonable ideas of panic symptoms, yet panic was mostly viewed as "psychological" in nature, with little acknowledgement of medical or neurological aspects. Q. Wu presented "Panic Attacks in Children from Scary Advertisements On Television." Her study showed good evidence that frightening TV ads could traumatize unsupervised children. She then described practices that parents could employ to reduce such effects; parental supervision and comfort, distraction techniques, etc. D. Sinclair presented "Stopping a Panic Attack by Decreasing the Carbon Dioxide in Inhaled Air." His study wasn’t simply a rehash of CO2 based "suffocation alarm" theory. He described two different CO2 alarm systems (one involving receptors in the Aorta and another involving receptors in the Medulla, how they interacted and how they explained apparently paradoxical reactions to CO2 relating to panic attacks). R. Duda presented "Panic Attacks in Soldiers in Combat Situations." As a military psychiatrist treating soldiers in current war zones, his talk was an excellent description of modern military psychiatry; including case studies and personal anecdotes. Naturally, anxiety disorders are expected in combat situations and often suggest lessons for civilian anxiety disorders. Following our formal presentations, I was asked to speak some concluding remarks. Such remarks are supposed to be brief and I was only given a few days prior to prepare. For guidance, I asked the thoughts of my fellow patients in the groups ASAP and ASAP-M. My fellow patients asked me to express the severity of panic attacks, and comment on medications. My concluding remarks addressed that the most common beliefs of panic attacks were often based on mild to moderate cases. The popular beliefs that panic attacks were "frightening, but not dangerous" and that panic attacks were "highly treatable" I acknowledged as true for most cases, yet took serious issue with regarding severe or chronic cases. I did explain that severe panic attacks were much like long-lasting conscious seizures. I also noted that many recent studies indicated that prolonged job stress (blue-collar, white-collar or otherwise) have been associated with ill health, so why should the stress of prolonged and frequent panic attacks be any different? Well, that’s the short and simple version of what I said. The conference, proper, ended about mid-afternoon. Some people left. Those of us who stayed quickly gathered to embrace discussions that waxed and waned from technical to friendly. We were also hungry, so we ordered some pizzas and the like delivered to the conference suites (a new and amusing first for the conference’s four year history). We enjoyed each other’s company for a few hours more. Eventually, however, we had to end the day, knowing that most of us had to return to distant countries. Such good-byes are always bittersweet. Overall, the conference was strangely successful. Despite misfortune and low attendance, we had great presenters and great material to add to our proceedings. And, after all, our greatest audience is the readers of the proceedings. Somehow, our twisted altruistic notions had apparently panned out one more time. Best Wishes, Arthur — The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
– The charter is available at: http://readystump.algebra.com/~asapm
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