As one of the patients contacted by Ms. Smith, I was excited about this opportunity to promote awareness and education about panic disorder; a disorder which is often misunderstood by the general public. Over a number of phone conversations and e-mails, I openly discussed my own history of panic disorder. Since I was not currently involved with formal CBT at the time, I was not a candidate for the interviews she was seeking. Nonetheless, I expressed the need for improved awareness of the medical aspects of panic disorder (endocrine and neurological issues) and referred her to Stuart Shipko, MD, of the Panic Disorder Institute and Jacques Bradwejn, MD, of the Royal Ottawa Hospital for expert commentary. I also volunteered time and web promotion to encourage fellow patients to offer their own perspectives and possibly be interviewed if desired.

After several weeks, I grew curious about how the production was going. I e-mailed Dr. Shipko and asked for his impressions. He had talked with Ms. Smith, but he was uncertain how the program was evolving and suspected it might overlook the medical perspectives. Like concerns were expressed in ASAP since similar programs in the past tended to focus almost exclusively on the psychological aspects of panic disorder.

By January, 2000, the 48 Hours program was in full production. Ms. Smith was terribly busy at this time, but she did her best to keep in touch. I asked about the program's broadcast date, but that had yet to be determined. I could only wait and wonder until the program was finally broadcast for all to see.

The "48 Hours" program entitled "Panic; A Look At People Struggling With Anxiety" was broadcast on February 24, 2000. Unfortunately, I missed the program. Ms. Smith had sent me an e-mail notice the day before, but I had been recovering from a nasty cold and hadn't checked my e-mail in time. However, within a week, a transcript of the program became available on the CBS web site and I read it with much interest.

The program was presented in four segments:

• "Overcoming Anxiety," the first segment, featured Theresa Murphy and Chad Dyer. Both Murphy and Dyer suffered panic disorder and had tried antidepressants without success. So, they tried a form of psychotherapy generally known as exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is typically conducted under the guidance of a therapist; gradually exposing a person to anxiety provoking situations in the hope of desensitizing them to anxiety. Murphy and Dyer both pursued the same therapy through Boston University. In Dyer's case, exposure therapy helped him to overcome his anxiety of driving across bridges. Months later, his recovery had been dramatic enough that he was able to indulge in skydiving. Murphy's exposure therapy began with hyperventilation exercises. She then progressed to riding a local subway system and continued on to driving exercises. During the program, however, Murphy's therapy became unexpectedly intense when her therapist, Kami White, suddenly insisted she drive alone to an unfamiliar destination. Fortunately for both Murphy and Dyer, their exposure therapy proved very helpful.

• "Donny Osmond Confronts His Fear." In this segment, the well known celebrity Donny Osmond talked about his experience with social anxiety and panic attacks. Under the guidance of therapist Jerilyn Ross (of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, or ADAA), Osmond started a form of psychotherapy generally known as cognitive therapy. In cognitive therapy, a therapist generally helps a person to think of their anxiety in a more positive or constructive manner. Apparently, this therapy proved helpful to Osmond in just "three days."

• "When Panic Strikes," was a segment devoted to the case of Michael M.; a music major at Millikin University. Michael was struggling with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as well as depression and panic attacks. When confiding with the associate dean about his condition, Michael was soon faced with a shocking ultimatum; either check himself into a hospital psych ward or face expulsion! Despite seeing a doctor, Michael was still expelled because the school naively considered him a threat. However, when faced with a lawsuit under the "Americans With Disabilities Act," the university backed down and allowed Michael to resume his education.

• "Going To The Dogs," addressed the topic of "emotional support dogs." This segment featured Celia Holm, a New York City librarian with panic disorder, and her support dog Scout. Here, the program showed how specially trained dogs can help people manage daily anxiety.

Within the Internet anxiety-panic group known as ASAP, however, there were mixed opinions about the program. Most people appreciated the increased public awareness of panic disorder. Yet, many people felt the program presented a distorted picture of the disorder and its treatment. People rarely recover from panic disorder in a matter of days; in fact, aggressive and rapid psychotherapies can actually traumatize patients and complicate their recovery. Furthermore, panic disorder is not always a psychological condition, but is sometimes a very medical condition (involving acute imbalances of body chemistry). People who suffer chronic, medical forms of panic disorder felt very neglected by the program.

Like my peers, I had mixed feelings about the 48 Hours program. All too often, media reports on panic disorder focus almost exclusively on the psychological aspects and present over-optimistic accounts of psychotherapies. The medical aspects of panic disorder are typically under reported, when mentioned at all. I often wonder about this bias, and I took the liberty to ask Ms. Smith about it. Basically, she replied that time limitations and the technical nature of the subject made the medical aspects difficult to report on a popular television program. I sympathized with her perspective, yet I also knew an important story had been left untold.

I remain hopeful that the popular media will eventually produce a complete and well-balanced program on panic disorder. The health care community has made some great progress in this area, and the general public would benefit from such knowledge in many ways.