Panic Attacks in Pistachio

It was happening again.

I had to see her.

I couldn't stand it:

Sweating

 

Being dizzy

Heart pounding so hard you knew you were going to die

Right now.

Die.

Alone, in the middle of the street, in pain.

 

Only I had been enough times to ER to know

it wasn't a heart attack.

Or not a heart attack in the sense of something wrong with my heart muscle.

It was a different kind of heart attack

A heart attack in my soul.

 

I had to see her.

She was the only one who helped.

I had to...

 

Panic Attacks in Pistachio: A Psychological Detective Story begins in the middle of a panic attack and never lets up. The man suffering from these agonizing panic attacks comes to his regular therapy session but instead of finding comfort discovers something no patient would ever expect to find. The drive to discover the truth behind this terrifying mystery sets him out on a quest, even a crusade, to discover the meaning of what happened. He must search among his fellow patients and ultimately enter his therapist's temenos, the holy of holies. In this psychological detective journey, he finds powerful help, through active imagination, from the greatest detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. These inner figures help him solve the mystery and the process helps transform tragedy into the beginning of individuation. He discovers many secrets and ultimately the hidden connection between pistachio ice cream and his panic attacks. Written as a thriller, told in the first person, based on the author's long experience as a Jungian analyst, the book makes compelling reading.