Dealing with Panic Attacks

If you’ve experienced a panic attack, it’s natural to dread another one. This fear can consume you, leading to constant worry about future attacks. This, in turn, convinces your brain that anxiety is a threat, creating a cycle where you’re hyper-alert to any sign of anxiety, triggering an exaggerated fight or flight response.

The good news is you can prevent panic attacks by following these three steps. With practice, this retrains your brain to see anxiety as less threatening, making it easier to calm your fight or flight response and ultimately conquer panic attacks.

Identify Your Triggers

Panic attacks occur when your body’s fight or flight response activates in situations where it’s not needed. This can be due to stress, underlying anxiety, or specific triggers. Recognise the connection between physical symptoms and anxious thoughts. Understanding your triggers, whether they’re external (like specific places), or internal, tied to past memories, helps you anticipate anxiety and respond more effectively.

Challenge Negative Thoughts

During panic attacks, your emotional brain, wired for survival, tends to exaggerate, and generate negative thoughts, which we call “propaganda.” It starts with a small release of adrenaline and physical symptoms, reinforcing the belief that something is wrong. To break this cycle, be aware of negative or distorted thinking patterns. When these thoughts arise, question their validity, and challenge them.

Embrace and Accept Your Feelings

So, how can you stop those relentless thoughts and worries about panic attacks? It all begins with acceptance. It might sound counterintuitive, but it’s a powerful tool to halt the cycle of panic, fear, and worry. When you cultivate an attitude of acceptance, you’ll find it easier to handle the uncomfortable symptoms and develop healthier responses to your triggers, effectively breaking free from the cycle of panic.

How can you practice acceptance during a panic attack?

The key is to consistently embrace an attitude of acceptance and non-reactivity towards panic. With time, this practice can help lessen the intensity and frequency of your panic attacks, providing a sense of calm and control. Here’s how to go about it:

Face and Accept the Panic: Allow yourself to experience the sensations and feelings of panic without resistance or judgment. Cultivate a mindset that says, “Okay, here it is again. I can allow my body to go through its reactions, and I can handle this. I’ve done it before.”

Accept Your Body’s Reactions: Rather than fighting against them, acknowledge that you are experiencing panic and understand that it’s temporary and harmless. Let go and permit your body to undergo its reactions without reacting negatively. The key here is to closely observe your bodily sensations, regardless of how unusual or uncomfortable they may feel, without reacting. This creates a positive response and sets a reference point for future reactions.

Float with the Sensations: Instead of attempting to control or escape the panic sensations, go with the flow. Offer yourself reassuring statements, like “This will pass” or “I can handle it now.” You could even create a list of coping statements for yourself to be prepared.

Allow Time to Pass: Remember, panic attacks are time-limited, typically peaking and subsiding within a few minutes. Permit yourself to move through the bodily reactions triggered by the surge of adrenaline, as much of it will metabolise and be reabsorbed within three to five minutes. As soon as that happens, you’ll start to feel better.

The Connection Between Stress, Anxiety, and Panic Attacks

I want to share how ongoing stress can weave its way into our lives, leading to anxiety and, ultimately, triggering those dreaded panic attacks. It’s a journey I’ve personally experienced, and I believe it’s crucial to address and lower overall anxiety levels to ward off panic attacks. Taking steps to reduce stress and anxiety is essential for a calmer mind and body, resulting in more rational reactions and behaviours.

Contacting a Skilled Therapist

Reaching out to a skilled therapist, especially for psychological therapies like Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Clinical Hypnotherapy, offers valuable tools and strategies to effectively handle and alleviate anxiety.

In my clinical practice, I offer 1-2-1 and online therapy services.  Blending techniques and tools of Mindfulness, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnotherapy and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).  Each session is tailored to your specific need of every client that I see.

This combination has proven highly effective in helping individuals reduce the impact of anxiety and stress.  It empowers them to tap into their inner strengths, enabling the development of practical solutions to conquer panic and fully embrace life once more.

Embarking on Your Hypnotherapy Journey for Panic and Anxiety

If you’re interested in exploring the potential of hypnotherapy to address your panic and anxiety, I invite you to connect with me for a free initial chat. Take your first step towards positive change now?

Call, text or email me on 07976970489