Panic attacks are bad enough if you know how to deal with them, but if you don’t, they can be longer and more intense. The way I look at it, is there are two phases of the uninterrupted panic attack, and there are different things you should be focusing on doing during each one. Today you’ll learn what to do during a panic attack to make them easier to handle.
What to do when having a panic attack is important, but it is far more important to prevent these attacks from happening in the first place.
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What to Do During a Panic Attack – Phase 1
This phrase is what I call the pre panic attack. You’re worried, and just starting to see symptoms of the panic attack, so you know it is coming. You have more mental control before it reaches full force. The time this phase lasts varies from person to person, but it is important to utilize this time as fully as you can so you don’t ever have to see phase two.
It is possible to interrupt a panic attack in this stage, but not in the next as you’re unable to control your own thoughts as fully or think of anything besides the experience. This may be difficult to do by yourself, but don’t give up on trying it.
There are always patterns or rituals we go through in our daily lives, whether they’re physical or mental. Your brain will gradually streamline thought and muscle processes that have been done repeatedly through a process known as myelination. This is basically where neural pathways are thickened until an action occurs more quickly and without the need to consciously think about it. Sometimes you will go into a pattern you didn’t intend simply because you took the first mental or physical step leading up to it and everything else just happens automatically.
The phrase “pattern interrupt” is a Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) term, and is what we’re trying to achieve at this stage. Have you ever had the experience talking to someone where they quickly bring up something completely random and you’re temporarily stunned? This is what happens during a pattern interrupt.
To perform a pattern interrupt you must do something so mentally out of character for what’s happening that your brain stops traveling along that path for long enough to go, “Oh, we’re not doing that anymore. What are we doing now so I can get on board with this new activity?”
Examples of pattern interrupts include laughing, clucking loudly like a chicken, and sniffing a wall. Anything you can think of that would make yourself think, “Good God, I’m weird,” is perfect. Laughter is usually ideal because it is not only out of character, but the process of laughing releases endorphins that will make you feel better. If you can load up a favorite comedian on your mp3 player or carry around some other device that you can watch funny videos on, that will work perfectly. Embarrassment and self-consciousness are a close second. Anger can work, but it is ultimately destructive and harder to start up normally, so I do not recommend it.
What to Do During a Panic Attack – Phase 2
Once the symptoms start to worsen, just try to stay calm and breathe as deeply as you can manage. Don’t get into a frenzy and tell yourself that you can’t do that, and don’t ask yourself why this is happening to you. Both of these thoughts are destructive. The first is because when you don’t believe you can do something, you can’t, because at some level you don’t try. The second is because that’s the kind of question that will loop you back to thinking about what was stressing you out in the first place.
If you can think about good, calming thoughts do so, but if not you should simply focus on breathing. Your mind is likely being hit with a barrage of scary thoughts at this point, but do not engage them. Realize that you do not need to think or worry about those thoughts right now, and if you truly desired, you could freak out about them another time. This isn’t easy to do, but once you stop adding fuel to the fire, it will burn itself out much more quickly.
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