some anxiety sufferers have a longtime psychiatrist, psychologist or some type of 'talk' therapist
its important to remember that its their job to help you get better, thats what you or your insurance company is paying for
It always feels good to unburden yourself and tell all your troubles to an apparently caring person, but its not good to become emotionally dependant on them. Also they should be offering constructive criticism and above all useful advice. be aware that some types of psychotherapy stress that no advice may be offered.
also you need to remember that until fairly recently it was thought by many professionals that panic disorder was a lifelong condition and that recovery wasnt possible, and that any attempt to recover would make the problem worse, likewise there still a few who want to search for a subconscious cause of it all, or want to analyse each panic attack for its subconscious cause. this method, although seeming sophisticated is useless and never helped anyone,not even when aided by the use of so called truth serum, as it sometimes was by eminent psychiatrists
the modern approach, which is very successful is a combination of meds and CBT. many therapists dont know how to teach CBT as they were never taught this treatment during their training
also, from my and others experience, a lot of therapists specilising in panic disorder or anxiety therapy are panic disorder sufferers themselves, who havent yet got round to curing themselves, even though they have qualifications in psychology
their anxiety problems lead them to study psychology, partly in the hope of curing themselves and eventually earning a living as a therapist.
as I have pointed out to the local psychologists board, there should be a requirement that they cure all their own psychological problems before becoming qualified
otherwise its a case of the blind leading the blind
anyhow thats enough for now, I am now off on a 1 hour trip in a crowded train to a large city where I have several apointments in large buildings involving elevators and crowded waiting rooms, I wont take any valium or need any as I am actually now recovered, I wonder if your therapist can say the same