Here’s one: Relax by taking slow, deep, breaths. Calm your anxiety by remembering that you are only Having a panic attack and nothing else - you’ll still be the same later on and that nothing more serious is happening to you right now. Continue to take those slow, deep, heavy breaths which will eventually make you relax. This is the first step to slowing and then reversing the release of adrenaline. Yeah Right! And then what?
Anxiety is a typical reaction to stress. It helps you to deal with a tense situation at work, in traffic, with a partner, or to study harder for an exam and keep focused on something really important. In general, it’s a mechanism to help you to cope. However, when anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it will become a disabling disorder which can lead to panic attacks.A panic disorder is characterized by unexpected and reocurring instances of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms that can include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, abdominal uncomfort and digestive problems. These reactions often mimic symptoms of a heart attack or other life-threatening medical conditions. Because of this, the diagnosis of panic disorder is usually not made until extensive and costly medical procedures fail to provide a correct physical diagnosis or only temporary relief.
Try to think of any other times when you are having these panic attacks, and how often they happen. Think of what you may have been doing just before the panic attack occurs. It’s a good idea to keep notes in a logbook for these. These are typically some of the questions a doctor may ask as well, so you might as well get ahead of the game. There are lots of medications you can take that will prevent the attacks from occuring, or at least make them less severe. The ol deep breathing into a paper bag and other relaxation techniques will help you to deal with a panic attack once it starts.
You can begin by holding your breath for 5 or 10 seconds which will give you the confidence to realize that you can actually contol something - your breathing. Now you need to understand the basis for panic attacks and what triggers them in your life. Now the breathing into a paper bag works for most people - remember the movie Copycat? Another alternative is psychotherapy, but break out the wallet for that one. Some people who suffer from panic attacks may question what has changed recently in thier life to trigger them. Right now you should learn and practice the controlled breathing technique, even between panic attacks. Then, once you’re good at it, use it right away at the very first sign of a panic attack. Also, try to sit in front of a fan or roll the window down if you’re in a car. Count backwards from a random number until your panic subsides. This may seem impossible but just try to focus on something - anything. This is a way of letting your mind know that you have control and it will be over soon.
Because no research has defnitely proven the etiology of panic attacks, the theories about their physical cause range from hormonal and chemical imbalances to disabilities such as mitral valve prolapse, hypoglycemia, hyperthyroidism, anemia, or hypersensitivity to caffeine. There is good evidence to show that the vulnerability or susceptibility to panic attacks is what is called a physiologic sensitivity abnormality. ln recent studies it has been shown that panic symptoms can be induced in people who have experienced panic attacks by introducing certain suhstances into their systems, such as sodium lactate or CO2.
There is also evidence to indicate that this physical sensitivity is inherited. Studies show that people who have relatives who have panic attacks have a one in four risk of
developing a panic disorder, whereas the general population has only a 2 percent incidence. Because 70 percent of those who have phobias are women, whose panic episodes are more frequent just before the menstrual period and during early childbearing years when progesterone levels are high, some physicians link this female hormone to panic disorder. Other doctors, noting that the level of adrenaline is abnormally high at all times in the blood of both male and female agoraphobics, believe these patients have a brain dysfunction. lt is as if they have a faulty thermostat that fails to shut off the production of adrenaline at the proper time, leaving the patient subject to panic attacks.
lt means you may have a chemical imbalance that predisposes you to feeling anxious. It also means you are not coping with stress in a constructive way so as to prevent your anxiety from becoming panic. You are not mentally ill, but if the fear that you have is irrational and keeps you from doing normal everyday things that most people take for granted, you may have a phobia. Phobias are considered psychiatric disorders and can cover a multitude of situations. But the good news is that behavioral psychologists consider phobias the most treatable of all the psychiatric disorders. These psychologists do not brand you with a diagnosis of anxiety neurosis or depression conditions that could require extensive psychoanalysis. Instead, they teach you mental tools to overcome your physical symptoms.
Of a set sample of thirteen hundred phobic patients seen at a Soutwestern Phobia Center over a period of ten years, 75 percent had recovered, and these patients function normally. Every year thousands of other people desensitize themselves to their fears and learn new ways of thinking which permit a total cure. Some people who claim to be recovered agoraphobics will say, “Yes, I can leave my home. I can go shopping, I can go to a restaurant or a party, but I still don’t enjoy doing these things. I always have that little bit of fear in the back of my mind that I’m going to have another panic attack.” The most these people hope for is to realize that the panic attack isn’t going to kill them if it comes and to grit their teeth and make themselves go to those places that they must.
A bare minimum existence like this is part of the process of desensitization and a necessary stage for retraining your mind. But it is not the place to get stuck. One may be tempted to think negatively during a crisis, but they don’t. The difference between the way they live and the way a lot of “recovered” agoraphohics exist is that they found a way to keep from giving in to the self-destnrctive thoughts that lead to anxiety. They don’t have to deal with such temptations nearly as often as they used to. Most of the time they feel perfectly comfortable and at ease. They can truthfully report that they feel better than they ever did before they had agoraphobia.
One can actually say that the day they had their first panic attack was the best day of their life. Their panic disorder forced them to learn how to eliminate negative thinking, build self-confidence, and use the extraordinary powers of their unconscious to eliminate anxiety and panic. Everyone who has a panic disorder can recover as completely as that. The first step is simply to understand thoroughly how your body and mind work together to produce the fear that causes these terrifying physical symptoms.
The method for preventing anxiety or recovering from panic disorders which is based primarily on behavioral psychology, but it also includes the principles of positive thinking, cognitive restnrcturing (or rational thinking, in layman`s tenns), and the creative use of the unconscious mind. Some of these techniques are taught at various top notch Phobia Centers. These psychotherapists and other professionals have helped more than thirteen humdred people overvome all kinds of phobias.
Since many people have completely recovered from agoraphobia, the most serious kind of panic disorder, they serve as living proof that a retum not only to a normal life but to a better life is possible. They can show you how you can recover, too. You should be able to gain some insight into the situations in your life that are triggering your anxiety by studying certain principles and answering questions and checklists available. Although you may not be able to alter the situations, you can change your reactions to them. Whether you are experiencing simple anxiety or a complex panic disorder, you can use these aids to regain control over your Life. Not only can you Control Your Panic, you can end it forever.
About 31 million Americans suffer from phobias, which have been called the disease of the decade. “What schizophrenia was to the 1960’s, what depression and burnout were in the 1970`s, phobias are to the l980’s, and beyond” said Newsweek in its April 23, 1984, issue. Of the several different classifications of phobias, agoraphobia, is first in terms of the number of people who have it. Fully 70 percent of all phobics have agoraphobia.
Contrary to the definitions you might find in a dictionary, agoraphobia is not a fear of the outdoors or of open places. Agoraphobia is simply the fear of fear. Agoraphobics are so afraid that they will have another panic attack that they avoid going to the place where they had the first one. As they continue to have anxiety symptoms, they gradually eliminate more and more places, until at last they are confined to their “safe place,” usually their home.
The second most common classification is simple phobias, which involve fear and avoidance limited to one or two situations. You may experience such terrifying panic
when you ride an elevator that you start walking up ten flights of stairs instead. You may so fear flying in a plane that you waste precious hours riding buses and trains across the continent. Bridges may seem so scary that you have to tum the driving of your car over to someone else whenever you approach one.
Animal phobias, the next most prevalent classification, are a fear of bugs, snakes, dogs, and other creatures. Usually these phobias begin in childhood and simply continue into adulthood. Social phobias are the fear of such situations as public speaking or eating alone in a restaurant. Whether you have any one of these phobias or slight anxiety symptoms, you can benefit by learning the same techniques to get over agoraphobia.
Some have recently been prescribed any number of pills often for panic attacks and general anxiety disorder which may have many good things said about them. Don’t take them yet if you don’t believe you really need them, but it’s nice to know they’re there just in case. You’ll get a lot of advice but the best thing to do may be to talk with your doctor about it. The doctor may do a referral to a psychiatrist. It’s best to hit these things from as many different approaches as possible. Medications are often a bit of trial and error so you may need to take a few different ones to find the one that doe you best. If you’re not happy with the plan of action your doctor recommends then see someone else.
