How To Stop Panic Attacks In 3 Simple Steps
It can be extremely difficult to stop panic attacks once they’ve started, but there are 3 quick tips that I’d like to share with you that work wonders at stopping a full blown panic attack.
#1. The Paper Bag Trick:
I recommend having paper bags with you wherever you are, and to also leave them lying around anywhere you might happen to be, such as your apartment or your place of employment. When you feel an attack is on its way, you’re just going to switch your breathing between the paper bag and your normal breathing – about 30 seconds of each.
It’s become a cliche to offer a paper bag to someone having a panic attack, but like all cliches, it’s based in truth. And paper bag breathing really does work to stop panic attacks quickly.
#2. Don’t Suffer In Silence:
When you’re having a panic attack, put the TV or radio on. Or play music through speakers or headphones.
When you’re having a panic attack it’s very easy to feel like you’re losing control (and losing your mind!). In a silent room this sensation is magnified many times. Sounds in the room will help to “ground” you in reality and stop that sickening feeling of losing touch with the world.
If you also suffer with depersonalization, as I did, the sounds will also work wonders in eliminating it during attacks.
The third tip is called “Reassure Yourself Out Loud.”
Back when my own anxiety disorders was ruining my life, I made a big mistake, and that was trying to rerassure myself in my head whenever I had a panic attack. What I should have been doing, and what you should do, is start reassuring yourself out loud. Hearing your own voice out loud has a very different effect on you, and it can be very powerful in stopping attacks.
Thoughts that stay completely in your head rarely help in reducing anxiety or panic attacks. And in some cases, internal thoughts can even make your anxiety worse.
Thoughts that you turn into out loud statements have more power and you’ll find that your natural instinct to panic is greatly reduced when you hear yourself being reassuring.
So tell yourself, out loud and firmly, that you’re okay, you’ve experienced this before, you know what it is, and you know it will pass and leave you safe and well.
Here’s a 4th bonus tip for you:
After you’ve had a panic attack, take a minute or two to write down how and what you thought during the attack. You can also use a voice recorder for this, instead of a pen and paper personally, I use a voice recorder, and it works very well.
Once you’ve written or spoke about your attacks a few times you’ll see that your anxiety has very specific patterns, and all progress the same way.
And this is great, because once you know your patterns you’ll know what’s going to happen in all future panic attacks even before they happen.
You might be asking why this is so important. Well, it’s because you take the mystery away from your anxiety. The mystery is what causes a lot of the fear, and by taking it away you rob your attacks of a lot of the power they have over you.
During future panic attacks, when you’ll have your notes or your voice recording with you, you’ll see that by getting rid of the uncertainties your attacks are gone much sooner than before.
The idea} of getting to know youe anxiety and panic through note-taking like this is a new one, but it works try along with the other 3 tips you’ve also learned.