How to Treat Panic Attacks: 6 Exercises and Techniques For Preventing and Managing Anxiety
Have you ever had the experience where one moment you’re existing inside your body until suddenly, a force rips you right out of the present and into a downward spiral of emotions? You could have been walking down a street, watching a funny movie, or talking to a friend, and your internal compass goes haywire. What’s worse is afterward, your energy is spent. You feel lethargic, as if you’ve been dragged through the mud with a winter coat on, soaking in the heaviness of panic.
If you’re familiar with these feelings, you’re not alone. Panic is one way that our body responds when we aren’t mentally addressing the stress, trauma, or environmental warnings that say we are overwhelmed. When I work with clients experiencing anxiety, panic attacks, or other internal pressure, I focus on cultivating present awareness of our internal and external surroundings that can clue us into what we need.
In this article, I’ll walk you through some basic practices you can implement to treat panic attacks and to resume control over your body and experience.
First, What is Panic?
Clients experience panic attacks as literal attacks on their body. Symptoms include heart racing, a sense of doom, sweating/chills and dizziness, chest pain, and generally feeling a lack of control over their bodies and minds. The trickiest part is that panic is not usually in response to a direct environmental fear and is often not aligned with the reality of what’s happening at the moment.
While panic attacks are brief, clients can experience a “come down” of symptoms for far longer after the panic attack has ended. Those who experience repeated attacks over an extended period may develop a panic disorder, which has unclear origins but is known to have been linked to genetics or as reactions to life events.
While sensitivity to our environment can be a superpower, clients who experience stress so viscerally can feel disabled by the ways life moves and changes them preventing a true sense of balance or peace.
Preventing Panic
The most powerful part of healing is understanding your personalized reactions to stress, worry, and distress.
How do you cope with adversity?
Do you have a self-care plan prepared for the days that just feel like too much?
How often do you find yourself in a negative mood?
Addressing triggers that invite anxiety, depression, or worry is an essential step to preventing panic because it gives you space to plan ahead, instead of having to recruit help in the moment.
1. Examine your beliefs about the world – do you believe that there is enough out there for all of us, or do we fight for the space we take up (e.g., scarcity vs. abundance mentality)? What do you believe is your goal or purpose each day? To help create realistic and balanced beliefs, write down intentions or goals for what you can do that day only.
2. Exercise, mindfulness, and relaxation. Moving our body, listening to our body, and calming our body are all worthy opponents against the panic that threatens to take us over. Make a plan to move (e.g., walking, running, yoga), to listen (download mindfulness apps such as Calm or Insight Timer), and to soothe (here’s a link to a progressive muscle relaxation practice).
3. Take note of your hierarchy of stress. Writing down your obligations and times when they intersect can help you plan for adversity, and discover what about these various life circumstances feel particularly challenging. From there, you can implement a plan to challenge these triggers through radical care for yourself.
Managing Panic
I have noticed that clients often come into therapy saying, “tell me what to do so I don’t have to feel this way anymore.” We all secretly hope that someone in this world has the answers to unlocking ultimate peace, contentment, or happiness. The child versions of ourselves that we carry inside us crave connection, security, and kindness. It makes sense that wanting to relieve ourselves of these physical and emotional burdens is something we seek, and yet sometimes, life is all about how we learn to manage, rather than eliminate, the pain.
1. Grounding exercises affirm what is happening in the moment instead of whatever content your body is having a kneejerk reaction to.
2. Deep breathing helps us tap into the parasympathetic nervous system and send a signal to your brain, “We aren’t in danger, you can turn off the alarm. Thank you for protecting me”.
3. Externalizing the experience helps us create space from our psychological state by affirming that we are experiencing panic, and our only job is to care for ourselves.
4. Challenging Our Beliefs can make us aware of our negative thoughts so that we do not blindly believe in them, but instead, become “Devil’s advocates'' to them and stand up against their claims. There are several questions we can ask ourselves, to reduce catastrophism, thinking errors, and unfounded conclusions to situations. When we challenge our negative thoughts, we can reduce their threat, highlight our strengths, and replenish our minds with new and healthy patterns of thinking that can actually solve our problems.
I’ve spent many years helping clients return to themselves, both emotionally and physically. There is real power in gaining perspective of the ways you’ve navigated fear in the past and the strength that comes with sensitivity when it is well understood.
For more information on mindfulness practices and other ways to reclaim your mental health, please visit us at havenfamilytherapy.com
