Tips for Panic Attacks – What Can You Do?
If you have never suffered from a panic attack then you are truly lucky. Many people suffer from them not just when things become unbearable in their lives, but all the time. In many situations it is the panic attacks that generate the stress not the other way around. Panic attacks come often when you perceive something in the wrong way and your body acts on this perception negatively. Think of it like a fight or flight response, which is actually what a panic attack will often trigger.
Dealing with a panic attack once is one thing but dealing with a panic attack that comes over and over can be truly a debilitating experience. Some tips for panic attacks that will help are to start keeping a journal of your attacks. The best way to deal with a panic attack that keeps returning is to learn about what is causing it to “trigger” in the first place. You would be surprised at how many panic attacks can be avoided if you just realize how your incubating it. You may not consciously be aware your doing it but your own mind may be working against you making it difficult to fight one.
When you keep a journal you get into the habit of both paying closer attention subsequently on future attacks, and you also start to divert your attention from the attack into a constructive redirection. Writing down details becomes meditative and later you can read over your notes when your not in panic attack mode to get some idea of what things tend to surround your attacks. If you get nervous because you are worried about how people will see you, that is a clue. If you find you get them when too many people are in a room, or if your in a tight closed in space such as an elevator then that is a clue.
Once you start to develop a journal you will be able to play investigator and can go back and read over your entries cherry picking environmental and emotional triggers that tend to repeat. The trick to healing this, or at least starting to figure it out is to try to change how you react to the triggers. You need to re-frame how you react to situations that cause these panic attacks. You will find you have adequate warning and can alter your circumstances so you don’t reach a full attack. One thing you don’t often do well in dealing with panic attacks is think too clearly, but writing down what you are thinking will help you to figure out what’s causing it.
