You Havent Died Yet! This is really the key to managing, controlling and curing your panic attacks. Anxiety disorders take such a powerful hold because we let them,
• we think the worst things
• believe the worst things
• feel the worst things
because we would have it so. Rather than believing the worst, try to believe the best.
Have your panic attacks killed you yet? No.... they havent! You may have thought you were dying the first time it happened, but once you figured out it wasnt a heart attack and the doctor sent you on your way, didnt you understand what it was the next time?
Did the panic attack kill you? If it hasnt yet, it wont, so accept it as part of your life and try to encourage yourself with positive talk and reassurance that you will survive.
Dealing with your panic attacks is really just an exercise in mind over body.
While this may sound simple, for people who experience panic attacks it is anything but! Panic is a natural reaction. People experience panic all the time in situations they are exposed to. Your plane has lost power and is going down in a river, you panic... You are being chased by a rabid dog, you panic and run...
Our bodies are working to save us from the dangerous or unpleasant situations we find our selves in. Panic attacks are a problem because of their timing, they are out of context and they occur when obvious danger is not present.
For some sufferers, the situations that trigger panic attacks are at least understandable, performing in front of a crowd, speaking in front of others, even riding in an elevator or going into a crowded place.
Its possible to understand why a person might be worried even if you cant understand their degree of worry. For others, the panic attacks happen in the most unlikely of places, the nail salon, picking out vegetables at the supermarket.
Interestingly, a panic attack may arise in a situation where you wouldnt ordinarily feel panic, and situations that could really induce fear are easily handled.
For example, a police officer could chase down a suspect, tackle him, handcuff and then take him back to the precinct for questioning without even batting an eye. This is routine, normal course of business and perfectly normal to him.
He doesnt experience a panic attack, just the normal adrenaline rush that goes along with the chase. On his way home from work, he stops off at the market to pick up some spaghetti sauce for his wife and has a panic attack in aisle 5.
What is this all about? The chemicals in his brain went haywire in aisle 5 and stayed normal on 23rd street. Having a panic attack doesnt make you weak, it doesnt make you a bad person and it doesnt mean youre a wimp.
All it means is that your body is responding to unpleasant stimulus and your task is to figure out the things that set it off and try to work with your psyche to approach tasks not with panic but an open mind.
• we think the worst things
• believe the worst things
• feel the worst things
because we would have it so. Rather than believing the worst, try to believe the best.
Have your panic attacks killed you yet? No.... they havent! You may have thought you were dying the first time it happened, but once you figured out it wasnt a heart attack and the doctor sent you on your way, didnt you understand what it was the next time?
Did the panic attack kill you? If it hasnt yet, it wont, so accept it as part of your life and try to encourage yourself with positive talk and reassurance that you will survive.
Dealing with your panic attacks is really just an exercise in mind over body.
While this may sound simple, for people who experience panic attacks it is anything but! Panic is a natural reaction. People experience panic all the time in situations they are exposed to. Your plane has lost power and is going down in a river, you panic... You are being chased by a rabid dog, you panic and run...
Our bodies are working to save us from the dangerous or unpleasant situations we find our selves in. Panic attacks are a problem because of their timing, they are out of context and they occur when obvious danger is not present.
For some sufferers, the situations that trigger panic attacks are at least understandable, performing in front of a crowd, speaking in front of others, even riding in an elevator or going into a crowded place.
Its possible to understand why a person might be worried even if you cant understand their degree of worry. For others, the panic attacks happen in the most unlikely of places, the nail salon, picking out vegetables at the supermarket.
Interestingly, a panic attack may arise in a situation where you wouldnt ordinarily feel panic, and situations that could really induce fear are easily handled.
For example, a police officer could chase down a suspect, tackle him, handcuff and then take him back to the precinct for questioning without even batting an eye. This is routine, normal course of business and perfectly normal to him.
He doesnt experience a panic attack, just the normal adrenaline rush that goes along with the chase. On his way home from work, he stops off at the market to pick up some spaghetti sauce for his wife and has a panic attack in aisle 5.
What is this all about? The chemicals in his brain went haywire in aisle 5 and stayed normal on 23rd street. Having a panic attack doesnt make you weak, it doesnt make you a bad person and it doesnt mean youre a wimp.
All it means is that your body is responding to unpleasant stimulus and your task is to figure out the things that set it off and try to work with your psyche to approach tasks not with panic but an open mind.