ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Panic can hit like a lightning strike: your heart races, your chest tightens, and your mind starts bargaining with the worst-case scenario. Today we take that terrifying experience seriously and look at it through a brain-based lens, because “just calm down” is useless advice when your nervous system is convinced you’re in danger.
I’m joined by Dr. Tiffany Thompson, founder and CEO of NeuroField Neurotherapy and the School of Neurotherapy, to talk about what clinicians sometimes see in EEG and brain mapping with panic disorders. We unpack spikes and polyspikes as a kind of flickering, unstable brain discharge that can trigger a sudden wave of dread and kick the sympathetic nervous system into overdrive. If you’ve ever wondered why panic attacks can mimic a heart attack and why so many people end up in the ER, we connect the dots between the brain signal, the body response, and the fear loop that follows.
We also get practical about neurotherapy and neurostimulation: how stabilization protocols may reduce that instability, why some clients notice changes quickly, and why Dr. Thompson says she’d run a panic clinic if she could pick only one specialty. You’ll hear a powerful case story of a 40-year-old father of three who reports being “super chill” after his first session, plus a surprising ripple effect Dr. Heather Putney has seen in practice: less road rage after an intensive, hinting at broader emotional regulation.
If you found this helpful, subscribe for more conversations on brain health, share this with someone who feels stuck in fight-or-flight, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of panic do you most want explained: the body symptoms, the brain data, or the treatment plan?
To learn more about NeuroField Neurotherapy, Inc. visit: https://www.neurofieldneurotherapy.com/tiff-thompson
To learn more about Transformative Neurotherapy visit:
https://www.TransformativeNeurotherapy.org
Transformative Neurotherapy
570 Lincoln Ave.
Bellevue, PA 15202
412-204-7397
IN THIS EPISODE
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:07.280
Welcome to the Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast with your host, Dr.
00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:12.320
Heather Putney, founder and executive director of Transformative Neurotherapy.
00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.519
This is the place where healing happens faster.
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:20.640
Because let's face it, your brain doesn't come with an owner's bag until now.
00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:30.000
Here we take a holistic approach to brain health, bringing together science, mind-body harmony, and the tools you need to optimize your well-being.
00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:38.000
Whether you're a high-performer, executive, athlete, longevity hacker, or just someone tired of your brain working against you.
00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:38.399
Dr.
00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.679
Putney is here to help you unlock your full potential.
00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:51.359
From brain fog to chronic stress, we're covering it all so you can finally experience brain health, mind harmony, and total well-being.
00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:52.960
Ready to get unstuck?
00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:54.719
Let's get started.
00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:04.560
Panic disorder can feel overwhelming and unpredictable, but with the right neurotherapy approach, the brain can learn new patterns and the transformation can be life-changing.
00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:05.519
Welcome everyone.
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.000
I'm Dr.
00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:10.000
Heather Putney, founder and executive director of transformative neurotherapy.
00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:11.359
Back in the studio with Dr.
00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:17.040
Tiffany Thompson, founder and CEO of Neurofield Neurotherapy and the School of Neurotherapy.
00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:17.599
Dr.
00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:20.560
Thompson, I'm so excited to jump into this one with you today.
00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:24.319
Um, so we let's talk about real-world impact.
00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:30.719
How do you approach teaching panic disorders and what are some of the major success stories that maybe stick out to you?
00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:43.280
Well, um the impetus for teaching a course on panic actually came from um I the class was on panic, rage, and psychosis, actually.
00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:52.239
And it was born out of um I had I had my own uh single really but memorable experience of rage.
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.560
I raged on my gardener.
00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:05.760
And that's a story, it's probably doesn't cast me in the best light, but it was so wild to me to have this experience of being completely flooded, completely overwhelmed with emotion.
00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:12.319
And it was, you know, humbling and, you know, um humiliating, and I was embarrassed and I was ashamed, and I was all these things.
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:14.240
And so I was like, I have to understand this, right?
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.680
I have to, I gotta, I gotta look at this more deeply and see what happened within me, right?
00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:26.960
And what I found was that, you know, there are um there are corollaries between these things, interestingly.
00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:42.719
Now, you know, I I don't personally suffer from a panic disorder, but what I can say about panic um is that it is one of the uh disorders in which we see abnormal findings.
00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:49.599
And you find something called spikes, um, uh also called there's another variation called polyspikes.
00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:56.719
We see spikes and polyspikes and you know, I don't know, roughly one out of five, one out of six clients that walk through the door.
00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:03.199
Um, but sometimes you you uh you see them as correlated to panic.
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:11.439
In fact, I would say 97% of the time when someone walks in the door, they're going to have this one particular finding in their in their AEG.
00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:15.039
And it's a short circuiting, it's a it's a quick fire.
00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:23.439
It's a um, it's almost as though there's a portion of their brain, an area that just kind of erratically discharges um spikes.
00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.879
Like if you think about a light that's kind of going out and it's flickering.
00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:34.240
And when that happens, the individual can be struck by a pang of overwhelm, of dread.
00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:44.080
Um, they could get flooded, you know, and it's this, it's this deep, um, you know, a deep, deep, oh no, right?
00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:45.680
Something isn't right.
00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:52.479
Very often what will happen with individuals is their um their heart will start to beat really fast, right?
00:03:52.560 --> 00:04:01.360
So they'll they'll start to have a cardiac response, and their system will then believe that it's under duress, that it's under, you know, threat.
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:11.599
And so their whole uh sympathetic tone and their entire body is being told that, you know, you're not safe, you've got to take care of yourself.
00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.199
Um, very often people who have this experience feel like they're dying.
00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:16.639
I'm having a heart attack, right?
00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:26.800
That's one of the things that we commonly hear from people who have had panic attacks, and many of them find their way into the ER because they think they're having a heart attack, even though they're 30 years old, right?
00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:38.959
So, what's often happening with that demographic is we're we're seeing isolated epileptiform discharges in their brains, usually in the um in the form of spikes and polyspikes.
00:04:39.519 --> 00:05:04.000
And so what's so cool about using um stimulation, multimodal stimulation, neurotherapy, um, to address this is that we we can actually um pretty we quickly um take down that um instability in the brain, right, with the stabilizing rhythm as you know.
00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:21.519
And so and so um I I've said a number of times, if I had my druthers, if I got to pick one disorder to work on, I would have a panic clinic, absolutely panic, because it responds so beautifully and so quickly uh to neurotherapy.
00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:28.399
So if you were a client, uh a potential client experiencing panic, uh and you're like, oh, this sounds really great.
00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:30.879
I mean, how quick might someone notice a difference?
00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:40.800
And I know that this like this doesn't mean that it's like completely done and healed, but you know, let's say how many treatments do you expect you know, okay.
00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:45.439
So the so the longer answer would be it really does depend on the on the origin of the person's panic.
00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:56.480
But I would say if it's what I've just described, which is again a large proportion of people who suffer from these symptoms, it's fast because we're talking about cortical goings-on, right?
00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:02.319
And we're talking about instability in the in the cells of the cortex, and the cortex is the bark of the brain, right?
00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:09.360
And so when we see those discharges, um, we can often stabilize them within within 10 sessions.
00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:21.920
Um, you know, and and the it will be evidenced not only by the individual's uh lack of panic, but it will also be evidenced by the lack of that finding in their data set.
00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:25.439
Okay, that's that's fantastic.
00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:32.720
And you know, 10 10 sessions is you know really a fast turnaround compared to a lot of these other, you know, treatments modalities out in there.
00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:34.319
So it really does respond quickly.
00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:42.480
Yeah, and any, you know, examples, any cases that kind of stick out to you that you know how it changed someone's life around?
00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:54.160
Yeah, I have one that um just recently actually this individual has just finished up 10 sessions at my clinic for panic, interestingly, conveniently.
00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:08.800
Um so this man, uh, 40-year-old father of three, um, you know, working professional, but would have, you know, really was worried about his heart because he would be overtaken by intense palpitations.
00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.199
And we went out to dinner with him and his wife.
00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:15.040
His wife is a friend of mine, and at dinner he's telling us a story, right?
00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.360
Like, oh my God, I'm having these panic attacks.
00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:22.000
And um, and I'm like, oh, oh my gosh, well, come, you know, come in, come into the clinic.
00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:27.120
Um, and because he's a friend, he gets the you know, the friend discount um at the clinic.
00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:35.680
And after his first session, he wrote me a text and he goes, Whoa, he goes, Tiff, I am super chill right now.
00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:38.160
Um, like almost like a zombie.
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:40.319
And I'm like, oh no, you know, was it too much?
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:48.079
And so I called him up and um, you know, he was a sensitive and he, you know, really sedated him in a in a positive way.
00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:54.319
And we just sort of got the idea of what his tolerance was, and he he had a you know, a miraculous response.
00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:59.600
Um, and that was again with intensions, and he's he's like, that, you know, that's great, thank you.
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:08.959
And so what I can say is um I can attest to this with uh individuals, clinicians who are practicing neurostimulation.
00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.800
That that's the that's the professional who can pull this trick off.
00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:18.319
And you know, the good news is I think almost all of them know how to do this one with a stabilizer.
00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:25.439
I think it's really interesting that you said that the impetus for this lesson was also like on panic and rage and so forth.
00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:32.000
You know, I just had a really interesting situation with a with a client that came in for um an intensive.
00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:35.840
And after um, you know, 10 sessions, they felt a lot better.
00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:39.200
And after uh they did a two-week um intensive.
00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:47.440
And so on the way, um they noticed one of the biggest things was on the way home that they didn't have road rage because they were driving across the state.
00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.679
So, you know, multiple hours on the way home.
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:58.080
And then like over over the times that just they're just like, I did not realize, like I knew I felt so much better in all these other ways, but the road rage was just completely different.
00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:04.000
They could just be like, Oh, I noticed this, and I used to maybe want to run this person down and have all these hot dogs chill.
00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:10.639
So I just think it's interesting how he like you how how I never would have thought about like the the panic and rage being so connected, like he like that.
00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:14.240
But that was one of their, you know, they reached back out to me on the way home.
00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.320
It's like, I had the craziest drive home.
00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.399
Like it was so easy.
00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:23.840
I just is so bizarre to me that my brain doesn't go straight to place.
00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:25.200
So it was really, really cool.
00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.840
So very neat.
00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:28.320
Yeah.
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:39.279
Well, I thank you for the work that you're doing and pioneering not only the education, but also the treatment in this field to help figure out how to make the treatment um, you know, efficient and effective.
00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:40.960
So we really appreciate your time.
00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:47.440
I know you're super busy with all the work that you do, but we appreciate you being here today to help others learn about this amazing work that you do.
00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.960
Yeah, thanks for doing this.
00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:49.360
Yeah.
00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:49.840
All right.
00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:50.799
Have a great one.
00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.159
Thanks, Heather.
00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:59.519
You've been listening to the Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast with Dr.
00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:00.639
Heather Putney.
00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:06.320
Remember, your brain isn't supposed to hold you back, it's supposed to power you forward.
00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:10.879
So stop letting it crash your party and start letting it do its job.
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:22.000
If you're ready to optimize brain health, sharpen your focus, and age like a fine wine, schedule your free consultation today at Transformative Neurotherapy.org.
00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:27.519
Or call us at 412-204-7397.
00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.279
Because here, healing happens faster.
00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:32.960
See you next time.