Hiya Nat,
Please don't let one failure make you feel like you are not getting closer to victory. You did step out in faith, you had courage, and you knew that you had the tools that you needed to take these steps in your exposure work. These are all very good things! We will all have moments in our exposure work where we feel like we are not getting better and then feel afraid of more panic attacks after doing so. This is just part of panic disorder and learning how to manage it. Think of it this way, if your life depended on you riding a horse and that horse bucked you off, would you not dust yourself off and get back on?
Each one of us has goals for our panic disorder, and each one of us has moments where we feel like we just can't do what we need to do to over come, but the only way out of this is through it and with faith and determination, you will get through it! Our program discusses that when we have a set back in our exposure work, we need to set some lower goals for that part of the exposure work and keep on moving forward. This is how we are going to get through it. I have already had some set-backs in my exposure work myself. When I first started working on it, I knew that I was having trouble going to the grocery store across the street, so what I did was make myself go in to buy one thing.
When I got inside the doors, my panic attacks started really heavily and fast. I got really dizzy and felt like people saw me, and so I quickly walked out, but then I stopped outside of the door until my fear got to a managable level. Then, I walked back inside the store and the cycle started again, but this time, I pretended I was shopping at the entrance and made it look like I was very interested in the toilet paper sale at the front of the store. After a few moments of this, I began to laugh at how funny my distraction tactic was, told myself I can and will do this, and was able to move on.
You can do this. You are strong enough and you are not going to faint or die in the midst of your panic attack. Everything you need is right infront of you, and when you are ready, you will begin to conquer this! Keep on fighting the good fight, and I look forward to reading your success story :)
Tanya