Handling Anxiety or Panic Attacks

Anxiety or Panic attacks can be seen as an abnormal condition wherein patient gets panic or behaves irrational over petty things or accidents or sometimes for no reason at all.  These attacks usually occur without any signals and the patient just gets frightened.  Any kind of trigger causes anxiety or panic attacks for eg;- being called to recite in the class or getting stuck up in the elevator, but sometimes attacks occur just without any particular reason. Panic attack is unbalanced reaction to the problem or situation at hand which can make the person extremely fearful and sometimes even debilitated which in turn affects relationships, peace of mind, happiness and life.

Symptoms of Anxiety Attack

A person undergoing an episode of anxiety attack shows the following symptoms:

• Hyperventilation
• Heart palpitation (increase in heartbeat)
• Surge of overwhelming panic
• Feeling detached or unreal
• Hot flashes or chills
• Feeling of losing control, going crazy; or fear of dying
• Trembling or shaking
• Choking sensation
• Trouble breathing
• Dizziness
• Sweating
• Nausea or stomach crams
• Chest discomfort or pain

Handling anxiety attacks

Anxiety attacks usually peak within 10 minutes and rarely last for half an hour. But during this time, a person can totally lose control of himself and show symptoms mentioned above. To handle this attack, a person must:

Relax – Although it is often impossible to relax during an attack, it is very crucial not to submit yourself to your emotion. Breathe. Deep breathing helps calms and relaxes your mind and body. During an anxiety attack, focus your breathing to slow down your heartbeat. This also diverts your attention from the attack which helps you recover faster. Take some time and practice deep breathing exercises even if you are not stressed or feel anxious.

Think positively – Again, during an anxiety attack, it is often impossible to relax or even calm yourself, but you have to be in control. Push more positive thoughts to your head. Instead of thinking that others will humiliate you or you are going to faint because you cannot take the pressure, think of the good things. Do no anticipate that something bad will happen because in reality, there isn’t. Keep in mind that the more you think negatively, the more anxious and panicky it is going to be.

Think that it will be over soon – and it will. Anxiety attacks do not last for more than an hour so there is no reason for you to think and feel that your world is over. You don’t have to be mindful of the time. You don’t even have to count every minute that passed. What you should be doing is be conscious that it will not going to last forever.

Start an exercise program – We have heard that exercise has lots of benefits both to the body and the mind. It is also a great stress buster and anxiety reliever. Experts agree that as little as 30 minutes of exercise, 3 to 5 times a week is enough to lower the level of stress and reduce the chances of having episodes of anxiety attacks.

Talk to someone you trust – It can be your friend, your wife (husband), a relative or a therapist. Often, having someone who listens and understands what a person is going through will make a lot of difference. This is because it allows you to bring out your emotion rather than keeping it to yourself.

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