What happens when you panic?
You can take great comfort in knowing that you don’t have to be afraid of a panic attack. Panic attacks have never been known to kill anybody. Despite attacks being immensely frightening, there are methods for controlling panic attacks. Although you may feel as if you are suffering from a stroke or a heart attack, just know that there really isn’t anything wrong with you.
Bizarrely enough a panic attack is an indication of your protection system kicking into overdrive and it’s trying to do a good job of keeping you out of danger. Unfortunately it is not doing a very efficient job.
A rational response to a real danger is to respond immediately and you will go through a physiological change. Your adrenaline levels will raise, blood is pumped around your body quicker, respiratory rate increases and so on. You are effectively now set up to either fight the threat or run away. The changes need to be intense to be able to respond in time.
A panic attack is an exaggerated version of the fight or flight response. It is also an irrational response.
Begin controlling panic attacks
Typically during a panic attack, you begin to focus on your internal experience. What this means is that you begin to amplify the experience and the intensity begins to worsen. You’ve probably found that the harder you try not to focus on your panic the harder it becomes and just like a vicious circle, it gets worse and worse. You will more than likely begin to catastrophize the situation. This means you begin to think in a very negative way. Thoughts such as “I’m going to die”!
If you’ve already begun to notice changes which you think are leading to a panic attack, here’s what you can do:
1) Breathe slowly from your abdomen (not high up in the chest)
2) Distract your focus away from yourself by talking to someone nearby or on the phone.
3) Your nervous system is overly active, so why not do something where you can release the anxiety. You can decide to go for a short walk or even do some press ups or an exercise of your choice.
4) Take control of your thoughts, they have such a massive impact on your experience.
Remember panic attacks are not dangerous, realise this and turn any catastrophic thoughts around e.g. instead of “I’m losing control”, say to yourself; “I can handle this confidently and calmly”. Do this and you’ll begin controlling panic attacks.
Discover how to be in control
There are other very powerful methods you can learn in the comfort of your own home to help you start controlling panic attacks. If you’d like to find out more information about how you can do this, click here: cure panic attacks.