Ways to Beat Panic Attacks


by Joan Shine - Date: 2008-10-15 - Word Count: 570 Share This!

Panic attacks very often accompany a person's exposure to the thing they most fear. The simple sight of a spider can send an arachnophobe into a full blown panic attack. Understanding what is happening can help you better cope with your body's response to that spider.

Anyone who has had a panic attack can tell you it is no fun - at all! It can be very, very scary for the sufferer and even make them think they are dying.

When overcome with anxiety, the body will react by doing a semi-shutdown. Breathing becomes very rapid and shallow. Eventually you will not be able to catch your breath and will be gasping for air.

The world will take on a different view and you will almost feel disconnected from it. This can be accompanied by dizziness and even fainting.

Your heart will beat very fast and you will feel pressure in the chest area. Many people who have panic attacks think they're actually having a heart attack. You may also feel very warm and sweaty and you will probably shake noticeably. It's very difficult to think straight during a panic attack, so it's very important to identify that you may be going into panic mode and start procedures toward combating the fear that began the attack in the first place.

First, keep in mind that your life IS NOT in danger. As we have already noted, during a panic attack, the sufferer is often convinced that s/he is having a heart attack or a stroke, and is dying. This is not the case. The symptoms of heart attacks and strokes are quite different from those of extreme fear.

A panic attack is not a sign that you are going crazy. It is true that you are in the grip of something and therefore 'out of control' of yourself, but the symptoms and feelings are very different from those of any mental illness.

They are exactly the same as those of a person in extreme physical danger. They occur in response to a signal you are misinterpreting. The fear is maintained by what you think about your feelings in response to it. The fear is real. It is not an illusion or a hallucination. You are not crazy.

A panic attack is not a sign of weakness. Anyone can have them, in the right (well, wrong) circumstances. With phobics, they are brought on by specific situations. With some people, they can be brought on for no rational reason and in no specific situation.

Remember that you can control it. Just knowing the facts can help a person get rid of panic attacks, even if they have been a problem for many years. When you feel the next panic attack coming on, say to yourself:

"This will be uncomfortable, but it cannot kill me. It's not a sign that I'm going crazy. If I can stop being scared, it will never come back. Anyone can have a panic attack."

Also try "stopping statements" such as

"STOP! These thoughts are not good for me. They are not healthy or helpful thoughts, and I have decided to move in a better direction and learn to think differently."

By doing this, you are reminding and reinforcing your brain each and every time you make this rational and realistic statement. There are some other positive self-affirming statements you can use to try and combat your panic attacks.


Related Tags: health, phobia, phobias, dental phobia, social phobias, commitment phobia, phobia list, list of phobias, types of phobias, phobias list, phobia treatment, school phobia, weird phobias, clown phobia, needle phobia, list of phobia, phobia names, funny phobi


Information on list of phobias can be found at the Phobia List site.

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: