Effectively Managing Panic Attacks
- Panic Attack!
I have recently learned a new effective way to teach you how to manage your panic attacks.
Panic attacks, when there is no danger, have to be learned – there was a time when your body and mind only producted this state of arousal when there was a real threat. This false alarm can be disrupted, so you can go back to normal.
Panic attacks can be extremely uncomfortable, but they are the felt reaction to potentially non-threatening circumstances, or sometimes just “come out of the blue”. What you feel is an upsurge of stress hormones (adrenalin etc.), which are preparing you for danger which actually doesn’t exist, and which puts you in an extremely unpleasant state of flight/fight with no way out. In other words it prepares your whole system for physical action, which is not appropriate when there is no danger.
It is obvious that a big surge of adrenalin can in extreme circumstances save your life, but out of context it is hugely upsetting. Your body needs to learn not to make an inappropriate “panic attack”, and only go into this state of readiness for flight or fight on the rare occasions it is necessary.