Just like the motto from the Boy Scouts: Be Prepared!
If you know someone who has been diagnosed with a severe stress related illness, panic attacks may interfere with a big part of your life journey. Even with medical assistance, individual people with these disorders might continue to experience ongoing anxiety attacks. Even though guessing the specific moment when a panic episode may present itself may be quite hard, people are able to contemplate actions to be prepared for any anxiety when they do occur. If you make like a Boy Scout, you may find that you can bring an end to the distress overwhelming you and you can then regain control of your life. In fact,patients would be well-advised to make ‘preparation’ the first phase in the panic attacks treatment model. If you are prepared, you will feel much more relaxed and capable of coping if a anxiety episode strikes.
The first aspect to reclaiming control is to relearn the skill of breathing. This may well sound a little facile to say the least. ‘What the heck do they mean? Learn to breathe? I’ve been breathing ever since I was born, buddy!’ Allow me to make it clear. In the hustle-bustle environment, very few of us breathe correctly. Properly enough to stay alive obviously, but not nearlygood enough to flourish! In essence, we breathe very quickly and too shallowly.
If you have ever gone through a panic episode, you will understand how overpowering it can be. When we get anxious it is a typical human reaction for our breathing rate to increase. This is an aspect of what is labelled the ‘fight or flight’ response. Our physical selves are preparing to either stand and defend itself or to escape to a place far from danger.
When somebody has a panic attack, this natural reaction can expand to the degree that he or she might simply forget to breathe deeply enough. This, in turn, can lead to far more intense stages of anxiety owing to the fact that the body delivers the message to the brain that something is going wrong. ‘What are you doing, Brain! I am not receiving any oxygen in here!’
This is the reason a large percentage of medical specialists and psychologists espouse becoming a master of slow, deep breathing exercises as a significant part of panic attacks treatment. In the course of a panic episode it is much harder to get your breathing back under control. So this is why you need to study and practice these breathing techniques while you are not in panic attack mode. Have a strategy planned — learn peaceful breathing techniques and practice at least two times a day.
There are additional relaxation strategies that mental health professionals might suggest as methods for helping you to establish command over your panic. These will possibly include progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, visualisation and positive thinking. Of course, you may find it difficult to even consider meditation when you’re experiencing a panic attack. But strategies like guided meditation and progressive muscle relaxation can be utilized at other times to establish dealing with anxiety in generalat any time. Panic attacks treatment does not always take place at the time of a panic attack! The tranquil thoughts and images you create in becoming proficient in meditation will prove to be an asset when trying to be peaceful at the start of a panic attack.
One other useful method for preparing for a panic episode is to gain knowledge about your trigger factors. Maybe you have a specific phobia? Is too much worry your undoing? Do specific situations appear hopeless for you? When you understand what things set off your anxiety episodes, you can do your best to steer clear of or diminish these events. Furthermore, this knowledge might assist your doctor and psychologist to better determine your panic attacks treatment such that, as you make progress, you will not have to stay away from these events.
You could also get organized for a panic episode in a more ‘logistic’ way. Indeed, this is probably excellent advice for everyone, not merely for those who live with panic attacks! When you are leaving home, take with you a list of emergency telephone numbers. This would include your doctor’s number, your local crisis hotline, and people in your own support network. You must use these contacts yourself if you sense the trigger of a panic attack. Also, another person will be able to locate this information in your purse or wallet if you are incapable of helping yourself. A number of years ago, there was an advertising campaign which advised people to programme an ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact number into their mobile phones so that a relative or significant other could be contacted if needed. That’s a good idea, really!
