Panic attacks can be terrifying events and if you’ve had one you know you don’t want another. The sad fact though, is you are likely to experience it again until you learn how to stop a panic attack and lose your fear of having one.

By now you probably already know that panic attacks are cause by the release of adrenalin into your body as a response to a message from your brain declaring an immediate danger. Of course the danger isn’t real but your brain has done a convincing sales job and the adrenal glands are pumping out adrenalin to get extra blood to your brain and large muscle groups.

In order to stop the panic attack you have to interrupt the emergency message your brain is sending and tell the body something else all together. Here’s a few tips that can help you get through the next one.

First understand what it is and accept it. When the symptoms start showing up know that it is a panic attack and you are not really in danger. Also know that most attacks last 3 minutes and the worse case scenario is you just ride it out. Nobody has ever died from a panic attack.

When the adrenalin starts to pump, your heart is going to start beating faster and your lungs will try to keep up with an oxygen supply by causing you to breath rapidly. You want to get that breathing in control. This is the first way to tell the brain you are in charge and that there is no need to go into the fight or flight response.

Take deep cleansing breaths. In through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Do this in a conscious manner to overcome the body’s desire for rapid breath.

In your mind just yell STOP as loud as you can. Scream it out two or three times to interrupt the brain’s focus on the attack.

Then you have a couple of options to distract the brain.

You can start thinking and being logical with the brain explaining that this is just a panic attack and no you’re not having a heart attack, or no the roof of the mall isn’t going to collapse or whatever logical message you need. Try to flood the brain with affirmative thoughts.

If your breathing is nearly normal you can try another technique to trick the brain back into the harmless present rather than focusing on the panic driven future.

You can do these exercises in your head although they tend to be more effective if spoken out loud. The first technique is the “What Is This” game. In this technique you look at an item close by and ask “what is this ” and then answer what it is.

For example if you were sitting in your car you would look at the steering wheel and ask “what is this ” and then respond “it’s a steering wheel.” Then move on to another item and repeat the process. What you are doing is demanding that the brain respond to an immediate question. You are blocking out the message that panic is sending and replacing it with a demand for immediate data. When the panic message is blocked there is no need for the body to pump adrenalin and you’ll feel the tenseness drain from your body.

A second technique that works for some is simply to count it down. You know that most attacks end after 180 seconds (3 minutes). You make the statement, again out loud if you can, that this attack will end in 180, 179, 178, 177…down to zero. Both the statement and the requirement to do subtraction will divert the brain to the present.

When you get to the point that you know you can handle a panic attack, you will probably not have another and your bigger fear, the one that’s controlling your life, the fear of having a panic attack rather than dealing with the attack, will disappear.

For people who suffer from it, knowing how to stop a panic attack is essential to their personal well being. There are many people who have this condition and as such, one should never feel alone.

The good thing is there is a way to reduce and stop the attacks. It does require some work and you do also need to find out the right tools to do it. Once you get the information right and work on making the various techniques work for you then anyone who suffers from it can effectively learn how to stop attacks from happening. Here are a few ways by which you can stop a panic attack.

Keep in mind that breathing helps. You are familiar with the symptoms of a panic attack, right? Perhaps you even know what triggers them. Breathing can significantly help prevent attacks from happening whenever you are put in an area where you’re trigger is.

Breathing in and out slowly will help your tense body to calm down and create a rhythm or a normal breathing pattern for you. This will also prevent the onset of light-headiness and help stop the attack quicker.

When you’re having a panic attack, the adrenalin rushes through your body making your breathe faster. When you breathe faster, more and more oxygen goes into your brain which overwhelms it and causes that feeling of dizziness.

If you can immediately create a rhythm for your breathing, you can prevent the feeling of dizziness and recover from the attack much quicker. All you need to do is breathe and your body will soon relax.

There are natural treatments for panic attacks that prevent them by treating the causes of these attacks. By treating the causes or triggers you can stop these attacks happening.

If you are looking for a cure for panic attacks use homeopathic remedies. These are guaranteed to stop the attacks and give you your life back.

If you want to learn how to stop a panic attack you need to remember this: sometimes the opposite of what you think is true.

Panic attacks usually start when an anxious thought enters the mind and your body reacts to the thought. Sometimes you feel a reaction in the stomach because there are lots of nerve endings there, sometimes it’s the chest, the body responds in many ways but you know it is a fear response. Your mind tries to move away from this thought, to push it aside, but because of the body’s response your mind cannot seem to help turning it over and over in spite of trying to push it out. The strategy of trying to stop the anxious thought doesn’t work.

Consider something completely different and then I’ll tie it to panic attacks. You are driving your car in the snow and you go into a skid. At that point every instinct about you is telling you to slam on the brakes and turn opposite of the way the car is skidding. Experts tell us to do 3 things to break out of a skid: 1. release the breaks, 2. turn into the skid, 3. accelerate slightly — this works, but go figure.

It is often the same counter-intuitive methods that can stop a panic attack. The thought comes and you begin to feel tension in your body and with every bit of rational thought left in you - you think you’ve got to get rid of the thought; you’ve got to get your mind on something else. You are focused on that one thought and your mind begins to spin out of control and you keep trying to escape the thought. Like the car in a skid the thing that common sense seems to tell you to get out of the skid, out of the anxiety is making it worse.

So how do you stop a panic attack Like recovering a car from a skid doesn’t follow your instincts, instead here are three quick things to do.

1. Let the thought in. Say to yourself that you are doing something different this time that you are not concerned with the thought.
2. Label the thought. Say to yourself: this is a fear of and then whatever the fear is about.
3. Observe it. Just watch the thought, perhaps it will change and intensify at first, if so go back to step one and go through the three steps again.

And that’s it, a three step strategy that puts you on the way to learning how to stop a panic attack.