How To Say "panic Away" - Contrarian Steps To Anxiety Relief

Living in a heightened state of anxiety can be uncomfortable enough (even when one does so unconsciously), but panic attacks are terrible. If one could just say "panic away" like a magic formula to make them stop! Well for most of us thankfully, there are a number of methods commonly effective to get anxiety relief. The trick is to know how.

In other words, sometimes methods that help control anxiety and panic attacks are counter-intuitive or unexpected.

I. The opposite-of-dying step

Especially in one's first panic attack, often one fears one is undergoing a heart attack or is otherwise in imminent danger of dying. This is the time most of us show up in emergency rooms at hospitals to rule out something serious, which is not a bad idea, since sometimes something serious is present ... even if the doctors have no substantial remedy.

But here we assume the imminent threat to life and health is not the issue of substance. Most panic attack sufferers fall into this category. Just knowing one is not going to die becomes a fact with which one can comfort oneself in a panic. It will pass and one will live through it.

More broadly, a first step is to accept whatever panic attack symptoms one has. One would prefer naturally to suppress and banish them, but that does not work very well. Accepting the rapid heart beat, sense of terror, sweating, dizziness, sense of unreality--whatever is worst about one's symptoms--this empowers the sufferer against the panic. It is the opposite of what one might think works.

II. The opposite-of-avoiding step

Probably the primary natural reaction to anxiety is to avoid whatever seems to increase of anxiety level. That is not always a bad thing, for it moves us away from real and unecessary dangers. However, avoidance behavior becomes counterproductive typically in those with anxiety disorders such as panic attacks. Some of us avoid so much that we cannot leave our homes or otherwise structure our whole lives around not encountering certain influences to our fear. Here is where avoidance strengthens fear and facing the bodily symptoms of one's fear, even challenging the symptoms to get worse, assures one who is in control: you rather than the fear. Now this is not easy, and it may require the presence of a patient friend or professional counselor. Or one may break one's fears into small chunks and face them one at a time. But in time the opposite of avoidance behavior give some anxiety relief.

III. The opposite-of-relaxation step

Of course one needs relaxation. Often those with panic attacks don't get enough sleep, for example, and lack of sleep and relaxation can unecessarily exacerbate anxiety symptoms.

But just before and during a panic attack, the natural thing to try to do is relax. Nor is even that necessarily a bad thing. One needs to have the presence of mind, sufficient calmness, to breath more slowly and deeply in order to control the symptoms of panic that hyperventilation adds to the brain.

But using the pent-up energy one feels with the release of stress hormones can be healthy and calming. In a panic attack, one may want to sit in a chair or climb in a hole, but moving about or exercising, if possible, helps consume stress hormones and helps release chemicals in the brain that have a calming influence.

Sometimes getting excited in an attack helps redirect energies in a more positive fashion, such as viewing one's panic attack as an interesting curiosity or ergular sequence of processes. This does not mean going crazy or becoming hyperactive, but being sedentary may prolong the symptoms a bit.

IV. The opposite-of-typical-diet step

Most of us consume too much sugar and processed carbohydrates. It makes us feel calm or gives us a boost of energy. But it also has various negative effects on our physical well-being. Many of us drink coffee or carbonated beverages which contain caffeine (in the latter case especially, not to mention sugar). Caffeine is stimulating, and in people with anxiety disorders, excessively so. We may consume alcohol to make us feel numb to pain, but it can also make us depressed and have other negative effects. Or our diet produces a bodily deficiency of B vitamins or other essential nutrient so as to make us more susceptible to anxiety.

Eating some things--healthy food--we may not like may improve our health and resistance to anxiety. Eating what we prefer may not always be in our best interests.

Of course more techniques may be needed to control anxiety and panic, but the above are commonly helpful ones.