Managing panic

I have struggled with anxiety throughout my whole life, everybody does. It’s a natural human survival instinct, it’s a body doing its job at keeping you safe from danger. But there’s a limit. When your brain starts to believe that going to the shop is a dangerous thing and your body is riddled with terror in turn – that’s when it becomes much more of a problem.

Panic attacks appear differently within everybody, in a sense it’s your body going into fight or flight mode. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish what one feels like but some of the key psychical symptoms are –

• Racing heart
• Struggling to catch your breath
• Sweating profusely
• Nausea
• Shaking

I remember my first panic attack so vividly. It was the first thing that signified the difficulties I was unknowingly having with my mental health and the incident that led to a diagnosis of anxiety. However, it was also the obscurity of the attack compared to what I’d heard of them. All I had known prior were the typical symptoms – a racing heart and a shaking body.

I remember coming home from school one afternoon, at the time I was relentlessly striving for perfectionism and my time was consumed by studying in a pursuit to be perceived as smart. Suddenly, a tingling sensation started in my hands, then my arms, then the rest of my body as it then intensified into a loss of feeling for my body parts. The best way I can describe it was almost like the symptoms of a stroke – and that’s what I thought it was. In hindsight, I can see that the obsession with watching Grey’s Anatomy at the time didn’t help ease the fear of what was happening!

It took some time to process that I had a panic attack, especially when it presented itself in a way I had never heard about. But it didn’t end there. Every panic attack I’ve had since presents differently each time. They differ in physical symptoms, their length of time and the intensity of it – but having the awareness of what I’m going through is something that always helps to self soothe.

Managing panic attacks during the moment is still something I struggle with. I recognize that they stem from pent up anxiety and an overwhelm of stress and in the midst of it, it can be much harder to self-regulate.

Something I try to apply is the ‘prevention over cure’ approach. It helps me if I give space for that anxiety to exist without suppressing it. Sitting in the pit of my emotions, as unpleasant as it may be at times, means that I can understand them and process them. If I distract myself from them and run to avoidance, all of that anxiety piles up to inevitably spill out on a much more intense level.

A big thing that I’ve found to help are breathing techniques. Now, to some you may be fed up of hearing that, believe me I used to hate it when people would say ‘focus on your breath’. But, it is truly beneficial. I see it as a bit of a cleanse for the body and a focal point for the brain. It’s a method I now love since it’s quick, convenient and no matter where I am, I have it to help if need be. My personal favourites are …

Cyclic sighing

• big inhale through the nose
• another big inhale through the nose
• big exhale through the mouth

(I try to vision this as a reset for my brain and body)

Box breathing

• inhale for 4
• hold for 4
• exhale for 4
• hold for 4

(It helps me if I visualise a box whilst doing so!)

4,7,8

• inhale through the nose for 4
• hold for 7
• exhale through the mouth for 8

(The different lengths of times can help to keep my brain more focussed with it)

Another thing that helps is realising what my potential triggers may be and having the awareness as to how I’m feeling – though sometimes those triggers are ultimately out of my control. Other things that have helped me are…

• Leaving the environment the reaction started in, oftentimes that entails walking outdoors
• Listening to music on full volume
• Remembering just like everything else, it’ll eventually pass.

Little actions like that mean that I don’t drown in the depths of the chaos within my brain whilst also riding out the wave.

Stop, listen and relax: Guided meditations from MindMate