SOS Help For Panic Disorder
Panic attacks are extremely disruptive and painful. Repeated attacks of panic can lead to aggravation of anxiety disorders, which would then require long-term medication and therapy. You need to beat it before it snowballs into a bigger problem. Here are a few steps that would help you do so:
1. Recognize it coming - When it comes to panic disorder, the most important aspect in the plan for defense against it is recognizing that it is coming, or rather anticipating its onset. Here are a few signs that should warn you about an imminent panic attack:
a. Tingling sensation - there is that funny feeling that your whole body is tingling; this is not a pleasant feeling; rather it is something that fills you with dread and apprehension.
b. Shortness of breath - you will experience a feeling of suffocation whereby you start breathing fast as if to get in as much oxygen as you could because you cannot seem to get enough. You would feel as if your lungs are unable to fill with the much craved-for air, and you are dying for the want of oxygen.
c. Disconnection from realty - gradually you will find that you are unable to grasp what is going on around you. Everything would look so detached from you, so remote. Often you would be tempted to reach out and touch an object in front of you, just to check whether it is real or you are imagining it. This is a feeling that many compare with a drug scene gone wrong; you are there and at the same time you are not - this is a terribly uncomfortable feeling.
2. Focus on the present - most panic attacks are caused by a fixation on the past or future. Either you are thinking of some horribly upsetting things from your past, or you are assuming that something horrible is going to happen in the future. Internalize that you cannot influence either. You cannot change what transpired in the past nor can you ensure that the future would take the path you prefer. So, why should you burn your heart for things that cannot be helped? Focus on the present. What are you doing now? What do you smell? What do you hear? What do you see? What do you want to do - NOW? When you look at the present and concentrate on it, the anxiety that would have lead to the panic attack would automatically decrease and disappear.
3. Use the ‘five-sense’ approach - this technique is applicable for all the anxiety problems not only panic disorder. Involve all your five senses to become calm and relaxed. See something beautiful that touches your heart (for the better), hear something soothing, smell something you like best, touch something soft and pleasant, and taste something that overwhelms you with pleasure. Do not worry if you cannot involve all the senses; just try to use as many as you can.
4. Get ready to fight with yourself - panic attacks are the direct results of over-inflated worries. Learn to be your most powerful critic. Make a list of all the fears that plague you and punch holes into each one of them, citing at least three reasons why such a fear would never be realized. Make a habit of this and after a while, you will find that you have conquered a good majority of these fears.
5. Reach out - panic builds up like the steam in a pressure cooker. As long as the lid is firmly in place, the steam would increase until the point where it explodes; if the lid is removed before, and cooker is left open, the steam would loose its strength. In the same way, the moment you reach out and share your feelings with someone, your mind would start relaxing; it would also start analyzing whether what you feel is really warranted or not and the intensity of the anxiety would decrease considerably.
The above techniques are extremely effective for controlling and reversing panic attacks. However, in case you still find yourself in the midst of anxiety attacks, seek medical help. The SOS measures are meant to keep you forewarned and forearmed against a very painful affliction.
