Panic attacks can be effectively managed using evidence-based therapeutic techniques including controlled breathing, grounding exercises, and mindfulness practices, while professional therapy provides personalized strategies to address underlying triggers and prevent future episodes.
Your heart races, your breath shortens, and time seems to stand still – when a panic attack strikes, it can feel like you're losing control. But you're not alone, and more importantly, you're not powerless. Let's explore practical strategies that can help you regain your sense of calm and control.
Learn How To Stop A Panic Attack In Its Tracks
Panic attacks can feel disorienting and cause physical symptoms that feel very real to a person experiencing an attack. If you experience panic attacks, you may feel shortness of breath and numbness or tingling throughout your body. Some people report that a panic attack feels like they are having a heart attack, and others may even feel like they are going to die.
Despite the overwhelming feelings and physical symptoms, in many cases, a person is not in danger even if they feel like they are. Panic attacks can be deceptive and can occur on their own or can be provoked by an external stimulus.
If you experience panic attacks and are searching for a solution, know that you are not alone. One in ten adults in the general population experience panic attacks each year. There are evidence-based treatments available for panic attacks, and a licensed clinical social worker may be able to help you overcome them. By developing strategies and learning how to recognize the cause of the panicked feelings, you may be able to not only decrease the severity of the symptoms but also stop panic attacks in their tracks.
Understanding the physiological response
During a panic attack, sometimes called an anxiety attack, a person may feel completely out of control of their own body and mind. Researchers believe that during a panic attack, the brain can stimulate, and the body responds accordingly.
When we feel threatened, our bodies have an instinctual reaction that prepares us for defense. The body releases hormones, such as adrenaline and norepinephrine, that stimulate a series of physiological changes that make humans more efficient at either fighting or running away to defend themselves. These changes may include tense muscles, flushed skin, increased heart rate and blood pressure, rapid breathing, and faster metabolism, all of which can also be symptoms of a panic attack. However, there is typically no danger or threat for people managing a panic attack, even though their bodies and minds are telling them otherwise.
Recognizing and acknowledging panic symptoms
To manage a panic attack, one of the first steps that may help is to actively acknowledge you are experiencing an attack. When you recognize what your symptoms are, you may find that you can take power away from anxiety. You can tell yourself you are not dying and you are not having a heart attack, and then name the moment for what it is: anxiety at an extreme level.
You can also acknowledge how intense it feels while reminding yourself that the feelings will pass. Panic attacks, though extremely uncomfortable and frightening, are temporary. Remembering that these symptoms will eventually subside may help remove the fear that it will “never go away.”
The role of adrenaline in panic attacks
During a panic attack, your adrenaline levels tend to be high. Adrenaline increases your blood flow, which in turn makes you physically more capable to react. You may be hyper-aware of potential dangers and ready to take them on. When you have high levels of adrenaline, you may experience physiological symptoms associated with panic. Some of these symptoms may include a racing heart, nausea, vomiting, shaking, loss of control, a sense of “unreality,” excessive sweating, and more.
When you experience a panic attack, your body tends to mimic how it would react if you were in actual danger. While the danger may feel real, there typically is no threat or danger present, despite what the brain perceives. It can be frightening to experience panic attacks and not know where they came from. When you are unable to identify the symptoms, you might feel powerless to control these attacks. However, there are ways to regain your sense of control while the attack subsides.
Effective strategies for managing panic attacks
When you’re feeling anxious, strategies like positive self-talk and reciting mantras can help you return to a calm and balanced state. Here are some strategies to try, each of which may offer similar benefits.
Urge surfing and controlled breathing
Panic attacks might feel like they last forever, but they typically peak within 10 minutes, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. After that, the attack usually starts to lessen in intensity. One strategy is to ride out the attack using a technique called “urge surfing.” This strategy entails observing the urge to run from the discomfort and instead riding the wave as it rises and falls until it loses its power.
When you are feeling anxiety or panic, you may also experience racing thoughts. You might not be able to tell one thought from the next, and that is okay. You can close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Instead of fighting the thoughts, you may find it helpful to observe them without identifying with them.
You do not have to understand or fix the thoughts that arise. Instead, you might imagine the words of the thoughts rolling down a river. You can focus on your breath and let it ground you. It may help to remember that you are not floating outside of your body (even though it might feel that way). Your feet are on the ground, and one of the things you can control is your breath. For this reason, it may help to keep breathing and feeling your feet connected to the floor or the ground.
Grounding techniques
One grounding technique you can use is to focus on one thing in the room. You can pick an object and stare at it while taking slow, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Having a focal point may help you to stay grounded, which may help the stress response naturally calm down.
Another thing you can try is naming five things in the room you can see, hear, touch, feel, or taste. You can pick one of the five senses and name five objects or sensations that go along with it. This may help to reset your brain and send a message to your mind to focus on something else.
Mindfulness practices
Panic attacks sometimes happen when we are worrying about something that “could” happen. This means instead of focusing on the present moment, your mind might be looking to the future. It also might be that you are worried about something terrible happening in the present moment and your mind goes into anxiety overdrive.
That is where mindfulness might help you bring yourself back to this moment. In one study published in Psychiatry Investigation, researchers found that mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (MCBT) reduced intolerance of uncertainty for people who live with panic disorder.
When you practice mindfulness, you do not have to fix or change what is going on. This may be difficult during a panic attack because of the symptoms and thoughts you are experiencing. However, with some practice, you may learn to observe your symptoms until they dissipate. Mindfulness may help you remember that your body is having uncomfortable symptoms because of the panic attack, which may slowly reduce any sense of impending danger.
Progressive muscle relaxation
When you experience intense levels of panic, your muscles and your body may tighten up. Using conscious techniques, you may find that you can relax individual parts of your body one at a time through a practice called progressive muscle relaxation. You might start by closing your eyes and focusing on your breath. As you take slow, deep breaths, you can focus on one part of your body that feels tight. Maybe it is your jaw or your neck. As you inhale, try tightening that muscle. Then, when you exhale completely, try to release the tension in that area of your body.
This exercise may help you to release tension and relax your body, making panic dissipate gradually. Eventually, you may begin to feel more grounded and less tense.