Originally Posted by
PanicCured
I used to have extreme anxiety and panic. I do not get panic attacks anymore. I have written extensively about how I overcame this problem, but this is a quick guide of what to do when anxiety creeps up or the panic has already occurred. This may not work for everyone, but I truly believe it will work for most people.
If you are having a panic attack or you feel one coming on follow this quick guide:
1) DO NOTHING! Take a seat and stop doing everything. Droop like all your muscles just went limp. Do not attempt to do anything, except maybe drink water.
2) DO NOT OVER-BREATHE! Forget deep abdominal breathing. Breathe very slight. Let the air go into your belly if you need to, but keep it light. Keep your breath as you would breathe normally at rest doing nothing if you were not paying attention to it. Keep your breathing like you are at rest, as if your body was breathing relaxed and easy normally if you were not noticing it. Don't hyperventilate! Keep your breath at a nice calm natural state if you were calm and resting and not focusing on your breath. You do not want to breathe out too much CO2. Keep it light and easy.
3) Allow the anxiety or panic to do it's thing. Do not be scared of the anxiety. You are feeling fear. Do not be scared of fear which will add fear to the fear. Just sit back and relax and watch it like a movie. Don't add any fear, just let the current fear pass quickly.
4) Say to yourself, "This is my body's fight or flight response. Adrenaline is flowing through my body, causing horrible panic feelings. It will subside within minutes, and when it does, I will begin to feel better. I just need to allow it to metabolize, and not add anymore adrenaline and other chemicals to the mix."
5) If you are having a panic attack, do not seek a safe person or safe place. The seeking will make you feel worse. All you have to do is sit and do nothing and allow the chemicals to pass through you and metabolize. It can go away in a matter of minutes if you just sit and relax, and watch it flow by you. The symptoms are caused by passing chemicals but they will only pass if you let them. Ride it out. Let it pass. It only takes a few minutes.
You are not going crazy! Let the thoughts pass too.
After the anxiety or panic is over, either voice record or write down how horrible you felt, and how you made it through another one, and now you feel better, and next time you will make it through again. Read or listen to it when you need to.
Just imagine if you followed these steps every time. Eventually it would have less and less power and less and less effect on you. Soon, you would see the whole panic thing as a joke. Yeah, you may get anxious sometimes, we are all only human, but it just won't go into full blown panic mode because you aren't going to run around in circles searching for the exit door. You'll sit and let it pass then back to you life.
Good luck and laugh! It's a joke. It's a bluff. Don't take it all so seriously. Learn to control your body rather than have it control you. Anxiety talks a big game but it never delivers. A panic attack isn't coming close to death. You didn't survive some huge tragedy. It wasn't a near death experience. It was just bullshit all the way through, experiencing symptoms caused by chemicals released and an over active nervous system. Don't feel ashamed or feel guilty. It means nothing! Give it the middle finger and laugh your head off!
Now get back to your life and forget it ever happened...
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