Panic Attack and Fear of Suicide?

[anxietyboy]

Whenever I'm having a panic attack and I feel the fear overcome me, the biggest concern I have is that I'm going to lose control of myself and jump off a building or run into traffic or do something suicidal like that. I'm not at all a suicidal person and I have no history of ever wanting to do something like that but this is definitely what freaks me out the most during an attack. Does anyone have any advice? Has anyone experienced anything similar?

[gypsylee]

Hey and welcome :)

This is a common fear and I see it a lot in posts here. I've had it myself and my earliest memories of this kind of thinking is from when I was early-teens and I'd be in shopping malls, scared I'd jump off the top floor. I'm 43 now and been driving for 20 years (had similar thoughts of "what if I just swerve into oncoming traffic?!") but never done ANYTHING like that. So I've pretty much grown out of that fear. You come to realise there's a huge difference between thinking things and actually doing them. It's very common for anxious types to fear losing control but in actual fact we're some of the least likely to.

Hope that helps,
Gypsy x

[anxietyboy]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply! I'm 28 and I've been dealing with this sort of thing since I was in my early-teens as well. I suppose the fact that I've never acted on these thoughts is a good sign.