One of the biggest issues surrounding panic attacks is that they can happen suddenly and quickly overwhelm you before you have had a chance to take steps to counteract their impact.
The problem is often that you are not always able to predict when you might experience a panic attack. The key to dealing with that scenario is learning how to take better control of your emotional and physical responses when you experience panic setting in.
There are a number of proven strategies that can help you minimize the severity of a panic attack, and even stop them from happening at all. For instance, you can get anxiety treatment to help you to gain the upper hand over your emotions and understand how to respond to the onset of a panic attack.
Here are some key points to remember when you are trying to manage a panic attack.
Be mindful that your panic attack will quickly pass
A typical panic attack will usually reach its maximum level of intensity within about ten minutes before subsiding.
Remembering that the feeling of panic will soon pass can help you to cope with what is a short period of high-intensity anxiety.
Learn to focus
It can be very helpful to learn some grounding techniques. One of these involves focusing on something physical in your immediate environment.
The impact of this is to divert your attention and reduce the symptoms of a panic attack.
Develop a good breathing technique
Taking deep breaths can be very helpful when you are trying to bring a panic attack under control as quickly as possible.
Your breathing is adversely affected when you are suffering a panic attack. You will usually experience shallow breathing and a tightening of your chest. Learn some proven breathing techniques such as 4-7-8 breathing. This involves breathing for four seconds, holding the breath for seven seconds, and then exhaling slowly for eight seconds.
Create some mental space
Various sights and sounds can often exacerbate your panic attack. A good trick would be to take yourself to a more peaceful setting. The quietness will make it easier to focus on bringing your breathing back under control.
Reduce muscle tension
A classic physical symptom of a panic attack is muscle tension.
If you can learn some muscle relaxation techniques this can often help limit the impact of an attack.
Consider getting some treatment
It is often a combination of things that proves to be the key to taking back control and even banishing panic attacks altogether.
A specialist center that offers anxiety and panic disorder treatment could prove to be the intervention required to put you firmly back in control.
Understand what triggers a panic attack
You may notice that certain situations or environments seem to induce greater feelings of panic and tension than others.
Being able to recognize these triggers can be really helpful. Knowing what is most likely to trigger a panic attack will enable you to remove yourself from these situations and develop some strategies that help keep greater control of your emotions.
Using these suggested methods for reducing the impact of anxiety could really make a positive difference to your emotional state and how you cope when a panic attack starts to take over your mind and body.