Have you had a panic attack Not a pleasant experience is it Are you afraid of having another How has that panic attack affected your daily life Do you have a fear of having another attack in front of other people Are you avoiding people and activities because of your fear Is home the only place you feel safe

Well you’re not alone.

Most people will have a panic attack once or twice in their lifetime and it can range from mild to severe. Women, particularly women in their 30s tend to have more attacks and anxiety issues than men. Many people can work their way through the episodes and never have another attack. However, for some the very nature of a panic attack encourages further attacks and this can become a debilitating condition.

The debilitating part is not the actual attack, but the fear of having an attack. Nobody wants to go through that again so we tend to put ourselves in positions where we minimize the chances of having an attack

Avoiding another attack. Is that what you’re concerned about

For example if your attack was triggered in a busy mall you probably will avoid going to that particular mall. Then you’ll find yourself avoiding all malls and shopping at small shops or online. That might escalate to avoiding anyplace where large groups of people gather like church or sporting events. Then you’ll find that it doesn’t have to be large groups of people, small groups like parties will make you uncomfortable.

Do you see where this is going

In extreme cases, the only safe place is home. This condition is called agoraphobia and it takes the uncontrolled fear of a panic attack to its logical end play. People with agoraphobia are trapped in their house and they have essentially become prisoners of panic.

How great would it be if your fear of panic attack simply went away. How better would your life be if you knew you weren’t going to experience that fear and terror that the panic attack brought on How great would it be for your relationship with family, friends, and businuss associates .

Well the good news is, if you can lose your fear of having another attack, you won’t have one. That’s right. If you can conquer the fear of an attack the odds of you having another diminish greatly.

So how do you conquer that terrorizing fear of a panic attack

You learn how to attack the panic attack. You learn how to stop it in its tracks. You develop the confidence that a panic attack can be handled with no fear and that you are in charge, not the attack.

First you have to understand what the attack really is. The reaction that your body has to the attack is perfectly normal. The rapid breathing, pounding heart, tense muscles, tightness in the chest are all caused by the fight or flight response that is part of our makeup.

For example if you see a child teetering on the edge of a 10 foot retainer wall, your brain immediately sends a message to your adrenal glands that an emergency exists. The adrenal glands start pumping adrenalin to the heart, muscles and brain to get ready for action. The heart starts pumping faster to get blood to muscles and your lungs speed up to oxygenate the blood.

So you race over and grab the kid and save him from falling off the wall. The emergency is over and the brain sends the message to the body to stop pumping adrenalin and return to normal.

What’s not normal in a panic attack is the trigger from the brain to the body telling it that there was an immediate danger. There is no danger. However the brain doesn’t know that so it responds the same as if there was a kid about to fall of a wall.

Nobody knows for certain what causes the trigger. What is known for certain is if you can interrupt that false message of emergency, your body will return to normal.

Does this make sense so far

As you read on you’ll learn the techniques you can use to interrupt the message but the first thing you have to do is simply recognize the attack for what it is.

Just accept that it is a panic attack. You are in no real danger. Whatever fear that is going through your mind is not real. You are not dying and you are not having a heart attack. Attacks typically come in waves and usually don’t last longer than 3 minutes each so in the worse case this will be over in 180 seconds.

Now to break up that false message from the brain.

First take control of your breathing. Consciously take deep slow cleansing breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth. This is a time proven relaxation technique.

As you are taking your breaths, scream as loudly as you can inside your brain STOP. Say it three or four times to get the brain’s attention.

Start making demands on the brain by asking it questions. This is most effective if you speak out loud but you can do it inside your head if need be. Focus on an item near you and ask (out loud) “What is this “. Then have the brain identify it and speak the answer out loud. For example, looking at your monitor you ask “what is this ” and then answer out loud “Computer screen”. Then work your way to the keyboard, mouse, desk etc.

What you are doing is forcing the brain to live in the present by making demands on it. This weakens the false message and you will begin to feel your heart rate go down and a lessening of the tension.

Another trick is to simply count down the attack. You know most attacks last 3 minutes. Simply tell the brain that “This will end in” 180, 179, 178 and so on to zero. Making the statement and then the subtraction required will also pull the brain to reality.

The more confidence you have in successfully handling an attack, the less fear you will have in having another and the more you will regain control of your daily life. Without that fear you can get back to a normal life and just how great would that be!

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