How do you stop yourself from having a panic attack?

Question

I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder and lately I've been having really severe panic attacks. It's come to the point where I avoid everything. I've been going to therapy for almost five years now. I try to tell myself that nothing bad is going to happen to me but I just end up panicking more. I've also tried some abdominal breathing techniques. Any other suggestions?

Thank you for your answers. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one suffering from this but it's really reassuring to know that others have gone through this as well.

Answer 1

I was taught by one of my nurses when I was in a nursing home last year a way to stop my panic attacks and so far it has worked for me everytime.
She told me to take a slow breath in and keep breathing in through my nose as much as I could until I could take in no more air........then take one more breath. She said to hold it for as long as I could and then slowly let it out....as much as I could possibly let out.........and then let out one more breath. She told me to do this at least 8-10 times.
As I said, it worked for me and I hope that it works for you.
Good Luck.

Answer 2

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RE:
How do you stop yourself from having a panic attack?
I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder and lately I've been having really severe panic attacks. It's come to the point where I avoid everything. I've been going to therapy for almost five years now. I try to tell myself that nothing bad is going to happen to me but I...

Answer 3

After five years of therapy, if it is still this bad, the therapy isn't accomplishing enough to be worth it.

The best way to deal with anxiety disorders is to take small steps. The more you avoid things, the worse it will get. I don't know if your therapist has you on anything, but if not and you're not taking other meds, you might try St. John's Wort .. an herb that helps balance the chemicals in your brain. It won't get rid of the issue causing the anxiety but it may help you relax enough to take those small steps. Each step you accomplish helps to break that chain.

Also, don't use phrases when talking to yourself such as "nothing bad..." That's automatically a negative. Focus on your breathing. The best way to do this is to start yoga or meditation to help you feel balance and a grounding of your life. The breathing techniques you learn from it will help when you get into stressful situations. Breathe and focus on the moment, not on possibles, but on where you are and on the fact that you are okay. Tell yourself you are strong and capable and able to accomplish what you want. Say this often, in your mind and/or out loud. Focus on positives only. Negatives feed negatives. Positives are healing.

Answer 4

As with every technique there is always a level of practice involved in the beginning. Initially you start observing but then suddenly get anxious about the fearful thought. That’s very normal in the beginning.

Keep at it. Practice and you will quickly see how less impacting those fearful thoughts become.

Do not let your mind trick you into believing that your anxiety is something you will always have to struggle with. That is simply not true.

Not alone is it possible to control the occurrence of anxious thoughts but I can teach you how to end panic attacks and general anxiety if that is your goal.


Click Here: http://tinyurl.com/kznlcok

http://youtu.be/4Jd-0vc1xCw

Answer 5

Hi sweetie, I am an adult an have suffered from panic attacks. At one point I had to go on lorazepam to help me relax. Most of the time the attacks are due to vast amounts of stress. I would do relaxation therapy, starting at your toes, tense the muscles as hard as you can and hold for 10 seconds, now release and relax for 10 seconds, do this with every mucsle of your body from toes to head, this excercise helps you realize how stress affects your body, when you are stressed your muscles tense, thus it is called fight or flight, your muscles are preparing for danger, but in reality, no danger exists. You need to also work with your mind, you can feel a panic attack coming on, at the start of it, you need to breathe in through the nose slowly and out through the mouth exhaling slowly, tell your self there is absolutely no reason to have fear, everything is fine, tell yourself you are strong and you will be fine. Eventually if you are lucky, you will over come these attacks. remember if there is a stressful situation, deal with it immediately, dont leave it to fester in your mind, and compound itself with other problems, deal with one problem at a time. i also called a friend through a panic attack, I had great friends who didnt care what time of the night I called, I told them just talk about anything and dont stop, listen to each word they say, the attack will pass.

I wish you the best of luck, deal with stress, go for a walk or call a friend!

Answer 6

I have anxiety attacks too, so you are not the only one in the lot. I also get really angry and uptight. I am currently taking Buspar, which has really helped a lot. Talk to your doctor about this prescription medicine and see if they will let you try this medicine. Also, look online for Seredyn. It is a blend of herbs to help you relax. In conjunction with whatever your doctor gives you, I would recommend using some herbs. I have benefitted from herbs for many years now and I will not give them up.

Answer 7

Baby girl, you need to get a new doctor that can teach you coping skills, ways to learn to avoid these attacks.
Some doctors are good and others are not.
Emotive therapy worked great for me. My psychologist teaches it. Your therapist should know about it.
When one comes on you need to breath slow and deep and go out for a walk or do something completely different to get your mind off of it. Do this everytime and the attacks should get less and less. It breaks the cycles and their triggers.

Answer 8

Actually invite one of your more regular fearful thoughts in.

Call the fear to you, say you just want it to come close so you can observe it.

It may seem like the last thing you would wish to bring upon yourself, as you don’t particularly enjoy these thoughts but this approach can be very empowering. You are now calling the shots. You actually invited the issue in.

By doing this you are discharging the dense vibration of fear surrounding the anxious thought. That fear was sustaining itself on your resistance, -the idea that you could not handle these thoughts.

The fear quickly evaporates when you turn around and say “yes of course I can handle these thoughts.”

Fear intensifies when we pull away from it. Anxious thoughts become a mental tug of war if we struggle with them.

It is the mental struggle of pulling against the anxious thoughts that creates the inner psychological tension.


Click Here: http://tinyurl.com/kznlcok

http://youtu.be/4Jd-0vc1xCw

Answer 9

Meditation and deep breathing are probably the best. There's also something called emotional freedom technique. It's worked wonders for me. It's too much to type in here, but here is a link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_Freedom_Techniques#The_EFT_application_procedure

Answer 10

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