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A friend of mine began experiencing panic attacks when she was 10 years old, shortly after a series of mildly-traumatizing events. The first one that she experienced was "triggered" by a wasp outside of their car in a parking lot. She uses the phrase triggered because she had had a phobia of wasps, hornets, and bees since she was a toddler, and assumes that being alone with no way to escape the image is what pushed her over the edge. Her psychologist feels that it may have been this or it may have been a coincidence, but either way, the event started a long line of panic attacks and phobias that were triggered by wasps, bees, hornets, or spiders 9/10 times. Her psychologist's theory is that she was conditioned into a psychosomatic response, much like Pavlov's dog, so that when she is confronted with one of these triggers she is automatically sent into a panic attack. Her hope is that through systematic desensitization, she can be unconditioned at least to the point where she can function normally when going outside.

I personally have never heard of someone being conditioned into something in just one sitting, however, I suppose it could be possible. As far as systematic desensitization goes, I have heard good things about it, and I have also heard bad. Any opinions on any part of this theory and treatment proposition?