Post by Mel on Dec 30, 2005 17:33:39 GMT -5
I'm Having a Panic Attack
Panic attacks are caused by the fight or flight response of the brain to stressful situations. When our brain senses danger or possible harm it reacts with an “act-now-think-later” response that causes a heightened emotional agitation. This can bring on a panic attack. While understanding the root causes of panic attacks can help prevent their onset altogether, there are also effective ways of controlling them once they’ve begun. One way is called the AWARE method.
Because panic attacks are created by an overly emotional response, thinking it through can help calm the panicky feelings. The AWARE method is based on this idea and it works in this way:
Accept that you are having a panic attack
Watch the panic attack as it unfolds
Act normally—continue doing whatever it was that you were doing originally or had planned on doing
Repeat these steps until the anxiety has subsided
Expect the best
The first step is to accept the panic attack. Once a panic attack has started, trying to fight it off or getting upset about it will only make it worse. If you decide to just go with the feelings of anxiety, you won’t add fuel to the fire. As difficult as this may seem to do in the moment, make an effort to go along with the experience as an observer.
Next, watch the panic attack as it unfolds. Make an attempt to be conscious of how you are feeling as it is occurring without judging these feelings as being good or bad. By becoming an observer of yourself as you experience the attack, you take yourself out of the situation and reduce your emotional connectedness to it.
While you’re having the attack, act normally. Continue doing whatever it was you were doing originally or had planned on doing when the attack began. Focus on breathing normally and calmly—what is your breathing like when you’re not experiencing a panic attack?
Repeat these steps until the anxiety has subsided. By tracking the attack in this way, you take it from being an emotional disturbance to an intellectual process, and this diminishes the power of the anxiety.
Also, expect the best. Thinking positively will help you to establish evidence that works against your fear. In this way, you can transform certain thoughts or behaviors that may be contributing to the panic attack itself. Most panic attacks occur in situations where there isn’t any actual imminent danger. Consider the possibility that whatever you fear might not even happen.
Panic attacks are caused by the fight or flight response of the brain to stressful situations. When our brain senses danger or possible harm it reacts with an “act-now-think-later” response that causes a heightened emotional agitation. This can bring on a panic attack. While understanding the root causes of panic attacks can help prevent their onset altogether, there are also effective ways of controlling them once they’ve begun. One way is called the AWARE method.
Because panic attacks are created by an overly emotional response, thinking it through can help calm the panicky feelings. The AWARE method is based on this idea and it works in this way:
Accept that you are having a panic attack
Watch the panic attack as it unfolds
Act normally—continue doing whatever it was that you were doing originally or had planned on doing
Repeat these steps until the anxiety has subsided
Expect the best
The first step is to accept the panic attack. Once a panic attack has started, trying to fight it off or getting upset about it will only make it worse. If you decide to just go with the feelings of anxiety, you won’t add fuel to the fire. As difficult as this may seem to do in the moment, make an effort to go along with the experience as an observer.
Next, watch the panic attack as it unfolds. Make an attempt to be conscious of how you are feeling as it is occurring without judging these feelings as being good or bad. By becoming an observer of yourself as you experience the attack, you take yourself out of the situation and reduce your emotional connectedness to it.
While you’re having the attack, act normally. Continue doing whatever it was you were doing originally or had planned on doing when the attack began. Focus on breathing normally and calmly—what is your breathing like when you’re not experiencing a panic attack?
Repeat these steps until the anxiety has subsided. By tracking the attack in this way, you take it from being an emotional disturbance to an intellectual process, and this diminishes the power of the anxiety.
Also, expect the best. Thinking positively will help you to establish evidence that works against your fear. In this way, you can transform certain thoughts or behaviors that may be contributing to the panic attack itself. Most panic attacks occur in situations where there isn’t any actual imminent danger. Consider the possibility that whatever you fear might not even happen.
