By: John Cielo
Submitted: 2010-06-10 05:29:28 | Word Count: 779
Panic attacks are horrifying, I know. Fortunately, with a good attitude and some techniques to help you, you can put an end to panic attacks, without using drugs with their horrible side effects. And having done this you can then overcome your general anxiety and get your life back on track again.
The key to ending panic attacks is to understand just where they come from. Once you understand this, then you're well on your way to eliminating them...
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It only takes a fairly everyday stressful situation to trigger a panic attack, e.g. shopping in a crowded supermarket, in a crowded elevator / lift, stuck in rush hour traffic, etc. And of course other even more stressful events such as public speaking, a job interview, sitting an exam, etc. can certainly trigger one.
But how? You need to start from the point of view that everybody on the planet suffers periods of stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, this is normal, everyday living; we worry about jobs, money, the kids, our parents, our grades, etc. But, in the main, we handle it and just get on with our lives.
Until, that is, we reach a period in our lives where the worry, stress and anxiety hang over us on a daily basis, and at much higher levels than usual. Day after day, month after month, many folks stress, worry and obsess about things at a level way above their importance or impact. So that their general anxiety is way up.
Now, what happens is that a stressful event or situation (such as shopping in a crowded supermarket) adds more stress to your already elevated anxiety and pushes your anxious state 'over the top.' Your brain 'reads' this as a signal that you may be in some sort of physical peril, and so triggers a reaction that affects nearly every part of your body.
This is called your body's 'fight or flight' response, and is a primeval process to help protect you in dangerous situations by setting you up to fight or run away to the very best of your ability. But, in the case of panic attacks, there is no physical danger, it's just that your brain has perceived your anxiety shooting up to be a warning of one.
So the response is triggered and you suffer a panic attack. The symptoms you experience, and that horrifying feeling of 'impending doom,' are as a result of your body's response to a perceived danger that doesn't actually exist.
This is your first step in how to end panic attacks for good: You now know that a panic attack is just a set of symptoms that occur when your body wrongly misinterprets your very high levels of anxiety as a sign that you're in danger. But you aren't, and now you know.
And this is your second step in how to eliminate panic attacks: These symptoms, because they are happening only because of a misunderstanding, so to speak, cannot harm you. This is a medical fact.
So, at the first sign of a panic attack, you need to remind yourself that you understand what's causing it, and, it cannot harm you. Then get control back, by regularizing your breathing, and then moving from the internal focus on your symptoms, to an external focus on the reality around you; buildings, people, etc.
These, and other techniques, are available to help you lessen the strength and reduce the time of panic attacks. But what about banishing them for good?...
Let me ask you a question. How did you feel after your first attack, especially once you found out what it was? Terrified of another attack? I know I was. This is natural because the symptoms are just so horrifying. And even if you aren't fully aware of that fear, it could be in your unconscious.
Either way, your fear (i.e. anxiety) keeps adding to your general anxiety and can in itself cause another panic attack. This has been referred to as your cycle of anxiety. And, as with any vicious cycle, you need to break out of it in order to truly end your panic attacks. Then having removed this source of anxiety you're in a better position to overcome your general anxiety as well.
