*If panic attacks are frequent and/ or intense, please seek out professional help.*
If you have ever experienced a panic attack, you know that they can be terrifying. Most people, when having their initial panic attack, will actually call 9-1-1, as it feels as though they are in the midst of a heart attack.
Panic attacks live on a spectrum of severity and can come in all different forms. Below are just a few symptoms that can occur as the result of a panic attack.
- tightening of the chest
- rapid heart beat
- hyperventilating
- sweating
- dizziness
- racing thoughts
- high levels of anxiety
- inability to focus
A panic attack is one way in which your body will tell you that your mind is feeling "out of control". The best way to handle this is by reminding your brain, that you are the one in control. The way in which you do that is by focusing (or being mindful). However, while in the middle of a panic attack, it's hard to come up with strategies on the fly.
Panic attacks are something that I discuss quite often in my practice. And mostly, my client's want to know how they can calm themselves down in the midst of one. I usually offer them a handful of mindfulness strategies to pull from. This post includes a couple of those strategies and how to implement them.
1. Counting backward from 100
This may seem juvenile, but it has been a huge help to a large number of people. Counting backwards forces you to 1. focus on something 2. give your thoughts a steady rhythm, and 3. engage with your mind.
Note that this is a strategy that can be done virtually anywhere.
2. Four-Four-Four
This exercise pushes you not only to reconnect with your mind, but also your body as it requires you to use your senses as a way of grounding.
To perform this exercise, you want to think of AND VERBALIZE
4 things that you see, 4 things that you hear, and 4 things that you feel.
For example, as I sit here and write this post, I SEE:
1. lamp
2. tissue box
3. door know
4. pillow
I HEAR:
1. people talking
2. heat coming out of the vent
3. white noise machine
4. clicking of my keyboard
I FEEL:
1. the couch underneath me
2. the carpet on my feet
3. some tension in my neck
4. they keyboard underneath my fingers
In the midst of a panic attack, you would want to mimic what I did above as it applies to you, but IDEALLY you would want to list these things aloud.
3. Holding Ice Cubes
Have you ever been at a BBQ where you went to the drink cooler and had to search at the bottom for a particular beverage? Where your hand was in the ice cold cooler for such a time that you had to pull your hand out rapidly to warm it up, because it hurt?
It's the same idea behind the holding of an ice cube for a panic attack. When your hand was in the cooler, it got to the point that the cold sensation was so strong, that you couldn't focusing on anything else, but your hand and that feeling.
By holding an ice cube during a panic attack, we hope to achieve the same goal- that your mind has to stop racing through the millions of thoughts you're having, or you breathing needs to even out, because your mind can only focus on the sensation of the ice cube in your hand.
Panic attacks are one of the most challenging things to face, because they can be sudden, unexpected and intense. The key is to remember that when you're having a panic attack, YOU ARE STILL IN CONTROL. Reminding yourself of the power you possess can enable you to use the tools that you have.
*If panic attacks are frequent and/ or intense, please seek out professional help.*