It can be extremely difficult to stop panic attacks once they’ve started, but there are 3 quick tips that I’d like to share with you that work wonders at stopping a full blown panic attack.
The first of the 3 methods to stop panic attacks is to simply use a paper bag.
Make sure to keep paper bags with you at all times, and place them around your house anywhere you might have an attack. When you feel an attack coming on, start alternating your breathing, 30 seconds into the bag, 30 seconds breathing normally.
It’s become almost a cliche these days to tell someone having a panic attack to breathe into a paper bag, but it really does work, and it’s a guaranteed method to stop panic attacks.
The second tip I’ve called “Don’t Suffer In Silence.”
Next time you have a panic attack, turn on your radio or television, and make sure the sound is up pretty loud. You might also wnat to try listening to music via earphones or headphones.
It’s common to feel like you’re losing your mind or losing control when you’re in the middle of a panic attack, and a silent or quiet room can make this seem even worse. Putting some added noise into the room will overcome this situation, and it will also help to “ground” you in reality.
If you also experience depersonalization with your anxiety, then you’ll find that this tip helps with that too.
#3. Reassure Yourself Out Loud:
For most of the time I had panic attacks, I only ever reassured myself in my head. But it’s actually much more helpful to reassure yourself out loud by actually talking to yourself. When you hear your own voice, it’s much more beneficial.
I found that my internal thoughts didn’t help at all in calming me down, and in some cases the internal thoughts actually became negative thoughts.
But the thoughts that I said out loud worked wonderfully and I found that they were much more likely to fight off a panic attack.
So from now on, when you have a panic attack, talk to yourself out loud. Firmly tell yourself that you’re okay, you’ve experienced all this before, and that you know the attack will quickly pass and leave you fine again.
***Bonus Advanced Tip***
After you’ve had a panic attack, take a minute or two to write down how and what you thought during the attack. You can also use a voice recorder for this, instead of a pen and paper personally, I use a voice recorder, and it works very well.
If you do this a few times, you’ll soon realize that your attacks are all very similar, and all follow the same patterns.
And this is great, because once you know your patterns you’ll know what’s going to happen in all future panic attacks even before they happen.
The reason this works so well is because it takes the mystery and the unknowns from your attacks. One of the worst things about having a panic attack is that feeling of losing control, and not knowing what’s gonna happen next.
During future panic attacks, when you’ll have your notes or your voice recording with you, you’ll see that by getting rid of the mysteries your attacks are gone much sooner than normal.
The idea} of getting to know youe anxiety and panic through note-taking like this is a new one, but it works incredibly well, and I hope you give it a [shot along with the other 3 tips you’ve also learned.
tips for panic attacks