COPING WITH PANIC: 10 Tips

Panic Disorder & episodic panic attacks with worry + anxiety symptoms often evoke an “emergency response”, triggering bodily alarm system of threat. As you may know, this isn’t a rare tropical illnesses as 1-3% of the population worldwide have panic/ anxiety with some ~50% of folks experiencing a secondary depression. Often, a panic attack is defined as a sudden rush of fear or discomfort accompanied by at least 4 bodily symptoms (e.g., chest tightness, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, dry mouth, tight throat, fear of dying or going crazy, nausea, feeling unreal, lightheaded, etc).  In order to qualify as a sudden rush, the symptoms must peak within 10 minutes.  Episodes like panic attacks but having fewer than 4 of the symptoms are called limited symptom attacks (“small) vs. full symptom (“big”) attacks. IF wanting more details or to see if this “label” fits you, two nice overview resources on this topic are at the following URLs:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/panic-disorder/   

https://patient.info/doctor/panic-disorder

The Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) can assess the severity of your condition that you can complete online, educating yourself.
https://www.mdapp.co/panic-disorder-severity-scale-pdss-calculator-596/
You can take the results of this test to your doctor, getting these symptoms checked out for a definitive diagnosis and treatment.

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DISCLAIMER: MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS BEING PROVIDED FOR EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATION PURPOSES AND IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE THE DIAGNOSIS OR CARE PROVIDED BY YOUR OWN MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. Visit a health care professional for a definitive diagnosis, ruling out any look-alike conditon(s) from several other causes (from too much coffee / caffeine to stimulant medication to past trauma to agoraphobia to social or situational anxiety to hyperthyroidism, etc.) , & then proceed with treatment .
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However, in the mean time, try out these 10 Golden Rules for Coping with Panic:

• Remember that feelings of panic are nothing more than an exaggeration of the normal bodily reaction to stress.

• Feelings of panic are not harmful or dangerous — just unpleasant. Nothing worse will happen.

• Don’t add to the panic with frightening =“What if” thoughts. Focus on the present, not on what you fear might happen.

• Wait and give the fear time to pass. Do not fight it or run away from it.
  Just accept it! (What do you do when you have the “hiccups”?; Do you try to escape or freak out?)

• Notice that once you stop adding to it with frightening thoughts, the fear starts to fade by itself.

• Do not add to the unpleasant sensations by overbreathing.
  Close your mouth and breath slowly and deeply through your nose.

• Think about the progress that you have made so far, despite all the difficulties.
  Think how pleased you will be when you succeed this time.

• When the feelings of panic start to die down, look around you, and start to plan what to do next.

• When you are ready to go on, start off in an easy, relaxed way. There is no need to hurry.

• Remember that the whole point of practice is to learn how to cope with fear without avoiding it. So take advantage of this experience as an opportunity to make progress.

Source: excerpt modified from Mathews, A.M., Gelder, M.G., and Johnston, D.W. (1981). Agoraphobia, nature and treatment (Guilford Press), pg. 183.

Download a PDF of these  10 Tips for Coping with Panic at:  https://tinyurl.com/3a64saph