Panic Attacks

Anyone who has experienced a panic attack knows that they feel awful. There is often a sense of, “I need to get out of here!” or a loss of control. For more extreme panic attacks, it may feel like you are dying. More commonly, the following fears may come to mind:

·       Having some kind of breakdown

·       Fainting or collapsing

·       Being unable to breathe

·       Feeling trapped

·       Confusion and not being able to relieve it

Panic tries to negate your trust in your own body. Do you have to remind yourself to breathe? Of course not. Your autonomic nervous system does it automatically and unconsciously. Further, our sympathetic nervous system gets stimulated in response to a perceived emergency and our parasympathetic nervous system is what brings us back down to our typical level of regulation. When the sympathetic nervous system gets activated by an illogical stimulus, we can have panic. Panic tries to convince us that we can’t trust our system to do the job it naturally does so well. Instead, panic wants us to become hyper-vigilant in monitoring our sensations and, in essence, intruding on what wasn’t broken in the first place. Good news:

·       You can trust your body to down-regulate.

·       While you don’t have to like that your body is having an anxious reaction, you can learn to accept it so that you are more empowered to address it consciously.

If a panic attack comes on, and the severity can be identified (mild to severe or 0-10), there are options for dealing with a panic attack while it is happening. First, keep in mind that a person cannot die from a panic attack. It will eventually pass. Next, if the panic attack is mild, focus on your senses. Touch the fabric on your shirt and describe it to yourself, or ask yourself if you can name what you see in your field of vision that is a specific color. If you are with someone and you can toss a small stress ball back and forth, that can help bring you back into the present.

If, however, the panic attack is more severe, you can focus more on just your breathing, assuming you have gotten to safety, e.g. pulled over if you were driving. Square Breathing is a technique in which you slowly count, for example, to four while inhaling, then hold the inhalation for the same count, then exhale for the same count, then hold the exhalation for the same count. For some people, picturing a square while doing this can help slow them down. Don’t expect this to stop a panic attack instantly; rather, the idea is to do it until. Breathe this way until the panic attack has passed, which it will eventually.

While one panic attack is bad enough, for some, their systems become conditioned to anticipate anxiety and unconsciously encourage panic attacks when in the same or similar situations. If this resonates with you, the good news is that while our systems can be conditioned to get momentum in one direction, they can also be conditioned in the opposite direction.

If you are prone to panic attacks, consider working with a professional to learn techniques such as Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) as helpful toward preventing panic attacks, or to lessen them. Some studies suggest that a regular meditation practice can also help with panic attacks, as well as reducing caffeine intake. A side effect of some medications can be increased anxiety that leads to panic attacks, so consulting your prescriber may be helpful.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but seeking out situations that provoke your anxiety as a form of exposure can be a way to condition your system to “lean in” to the discomfort and show yourself that you can handle it. Work with a professional to set easily-achievable objectives within this goal so you set yourself up for success rather than creating an obviously overwhelming scenario that is doomed to set you up for failure.

If you are plagued by panic attacks, or notice that they are getting momentum in severity and/or frequency, use the Contact Me option to request a consultation for additional resources and to learn more about how I can help.