6 Tips to Cope with Panic Attack

Many men, women, teens, and children, often struggle with panic attacks. It does not discriminate based on age. Especially with the COVID-19 stay at home order, many people have struggled to reduce feelings of anxiety and panic.

Panic is an overwhelming feeling of anxiety which occurs suddenly, without warning, and often for no apparent reason, and comes on in a wave of feeling, known as a panic attack. You may experience racing heart, nausea, shaky limbs, chest pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, headache, numbness, or sweating. Here are some tips to cope with panic attack…

Stay or Get Where it’s Safe

Stay where you are or pull over to the side of the road if you’re experiencing a panic attack while driving. Then pause, observe your thoughts and tell yourself that your mind is just having a natural reaction to the thoughts and feelings. These are the body’s natural alarm system doing its job when it’s uncalled for.

Notice & Shift Your Thoughts

Panic attacks are caused by catastrophizing (thinking of the worse case scenario) and misinterpreting symptoms (thinking it’s a heart attack when it’s just heart palpitations). Notice your thoughts and shift them to your positive mantras.

A mantra is something you say over and over in your head to calm yourself. Examples: “This anxiety will pass naturally given time. It doesn't last forever; I have never fainted, choked, or had a heart attack. I can continue without needing to escape or avoid.”

Create Flashcards

Since panic attacks are caused by our thoughts and we are not actually dying or having a heart attack, refer to your home-made flashcards in times of panic; keep them in your purse or on your wall at home. Each flashcard will have a different mantra on it like “I’m ok. Relax the belly and allow breath to come in naturally.” It’s important to stay with the panic and anxiety; trust that it will pass in time.

Keep a Diary

Becoming aware of the common patterns that unhelpful thoughts follow can help you recognize that you have them. Keeping a diary of what happens each time you panic can help you to spot patterns in what triggers these experiences for you, so that you can think about how to deal with these situations in the future.

Try this panic symptom tracker to track your panic symptoms. Self-monitoring of thoughts, feelings, and symptoms is an essential skill in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This symptom tracker helps you to monitor the presence or absence of common panic symptoms over the course of a month.

Breathe!

A panic attack is a sudden wave of fear that shoots through the body. You may feel shortness of breath, heaviness in your chest (not to be confused with COVID-19), blurry vision, dizziness, nausea, racing heart, crying, headache and more. Don’t be scared...that’s just your body protecting the major organs and preparing it for action (toward a perceived or actual threat).

Remember…You’re NOT DYING!

Do this Square Breathing Technique for 60 seconds to calm yourself down.

Do this Yoga Pranayama (Breath) Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique!

Do this Yoga Pranayama (Breath) Yoga Pranayama (Breath) Technique! 

Do this 3-5-7 Breathing Technique!

Listen to Music or Sing a Song!

Did you know there’s an entire body of research on the field of Music Therapy? In other words, music impacts the brain, the body, the breath, and the psyche. Put together your favorite music playlist and call it, “Music to Reduce Panic”, or something like that, for you to turn to in times of stress, anxiety, or panic!

Here is some of my Piano Music to Reduce Your Anxiety. You may also wish to listen to this while you are studying, cooking, or to fall to sleep to!

Additionally, singing to your favorite songs or creating your own music has shown not only to reduce panic/anxiety (due to the breathing that’s required), but can be a fun and enjoyable way to spend your day in the company of others!

Here’s a video I created live of the song “Wonderwall”! I hope it inspires you!

We offer affordable remote, online mental health counseling services so you can access care from the comfort of your home. We provide therapy to Palm Beach County and surrounding areas including West Palm Beach, Miami, Orlando, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Loxahatchee, Fort Lauderdale, Boynton Beach, and Pompano Beach.

Our services include Counseling, Mental Health, Therapy, Psychotherapy, Psychologist, Insurance in the following areas: Women, Men, Family, Marriage, Teens/Adolescents, Relationships, and Couples