How it feels:
“It was dark, I could barely breathe. It felt like I was losing everything I
had, I had no one to blame, and my mother kept asking me what had happened to
me..of course, it was not common to shiver and sweat in December in a city
like Chandigarh. I felt helpless and doomed, all I could think of was my death
and what would happen if I lost my sanity. My father kept rubbing my cold
feet, my body was otherwise sweating, the day was when I failed my NEET exam
for the third time.”
Understanding Panic attack
Panic Attack
could be understood as a sudden feeling of discomfort and tension, experienced
mentally and physically. These could be out of nowhere and can involve actual
or arbitrary triggers to be manifested in an
anxiety
attack. Every individual can have different types of symptoms. Some might have
one initially, and others can experience a cluster of them.
Symptoms of Panic Attack
Some of the symptoms are characterized by the following:
-
Feelings of breathlessness
-
Heaviness of chest
-
Fear of going mad
-
Shivering
-
Inability to think rationally
-
Hot and cold flushes
-
Fear of death
-
Dizziness and faintness
-
Tingling sensation
-
Nausea and abdominal distress
-
Feelings of choking
-
Chills and heat sensations
-
Being detached from oneself
-
Feelings of unreality
-
Neck soreness, headache, uncontrollable screaming, or crying
Causes of Panic Attack
Panic attacks could be caused because of various psychological and
physiological reasons:
-
Life-threatening or stressful situations such as failure in exams,
financial crises, natural disasters, war-like situations, etc.
-
Maladaptive thought patterns act as a trigger to some unexpected or
negatively evaluated situations such as misinterpreting the intentions of
your friends, self-judgment, jumping to conclusions, and looking only at
the negative aspect of the situations/events.
-
Lack of resilience and grit as not able to wisely bounce back from the
stressful situation.
-
Lack of decision-making and problem-solving skills which involves a lack
of evaluating pros and cons of the stressful situation, and feeling
helpless.
-
Perceived lack of control of self and the world which can also lead to
hopelessness and helplessness
-
Genetic predisposition to anxiety and mood disorders such as history among
the family members of the same
-
Role of various neurotransmitters like GamaAmmunoButryicAcid and brain
parts like hippocampus and amygdala in manifesting a panic attack as they
are the brain parts related to storing emotions, memory, and emotional
events.
As per surveys based on the last ten years, there have been 2.7% of the cases
reported for
anxiety
attacks every year. The numbers have experienced a significant hike since the
outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the reasons could be the level of
uncertainty, grief, and loneliness that came along with the pandemic.
Did you know there is something called as nocturnal panic attacks? It majorly
involve waking from sleep in a state of panic. Sometimes, the haunting dreams
or overthinking patterns can lead to nocturnal panic attack .
What triggers Panic Attack?
Usual triggers for the panic attacks:
-
Failure at a task, relationship, or examination where the person feels
helpless and on the edge. Such stressors can also lead to negative
self-evaluation making the person question their strengths and can result
in a negative spiral of thoughts.
-
High self-expectations as not fulfilling those expectations can again lead
to negative self-evaluation.
-
Grief or the death of loved ones can bring along feelings of doomed,
loneliness, dwelled into memories.
-
Trauma (physical/emotional/sexual) can be dreadful both mentally and
physically. Post-trauma, the individual can experience negative memories
of the event, get hypervigilant, respond in a maladaptive manner
-
Alcohol or substance misuse can trigger physiologically
-
Financial problems can lead to the depletion of tangible resources and end
up the client being helpless
-
Unavoidable social expectations
-
Interpersonal difficulties with your loved ones or authority members can
also exacerbate the issue as it affects you.
Effective tips to cure a Panic Attack
Here’s how you can cure a panic attack :
-
Identify 3 objects
-
Identify 3 sounds
-
Move 3 body parts
The 3 3 3 rule is based on the principle of getting one distracted from
the thoughts and feelings of
panic attacks
. Its one of the effective mindfulness based techniques. It consists of
three following steps:
-
The person is asked to identify three objects in their surroundings and
observe them with minor details, such as their texture, color, shape, etc.
-
In the second step, the person is asked to identify and describe three
sounds in their surroundings, e.g. birds chirping, trees rustling, water
burbling, the sound of a fan, children passing by, etc.
In the last step, the person identifies body parts, such as fingers, toes,
shoulders, and eyes, in detail and describes them.
-
Practice distress tolerance, the TIPP skills!
-
Temperature: Regulate your body temperature. Eg. cold/hot pressing your
cheeks, taking a cold/hot shower, washing your eyes with ice water
-
Intense exercise: Engage in spot running, spot jumping, or any such
activity
-
Paced Breathing: Engage in paced breathing. Take deep breaths per
5-5-5-5-5—-4-4-4-4—-3-3-3—-2-2—--1 method.
-
Progressive relaxation: Engage in muscle relaxation by contracting and
relaxing your muscles.
-
Rhythmic distraction techniques: Engage in distraction from your current
thoughts such as counting the number of clouds around you, or counting the
number of leaves on the tree.
Surround yourself with someone close and comforting. This will help you gain a
sense of belongingness and adjust well. Talk to them. Keep judgments away. Its
okay to cry it out.
Practice breathing exercises and yoga regularly. Engage in alom-vylom
daily.
Take a stroll in the open air.
Dwell yourself in self-soothing exercises such as lighting a scented candle,
holding onto something warm and heavy like a blanket, or your pet, getting a
body massage, etc.
Additional strategies to cure panic attack:
-
Get exercise regularly: It can help you regulate your heart rate, sleep
quality, and overall well-being
-
Get enough sleep. Sleep has its own restoration properties and it can have
a calming effect on the nervous system of an individual.
-
Engaging in pranayam and yoga can help you reduce your stress levels in
general.
-
Track your negative thoughts and mood regularly to keep yourself away from
the spiral of the thoughts.
-
Engage in meditation and mindfulness-based strategies which can help you
stay in the present and not dwell on the worries of the past or future.
Seek online counseling from a professional
How will online counseling help you?
Online counselling will help you understand your triggers and psychological
cues for having a panic attack. Understanding those could be one of the
preventive strategies.
It will also help you in identifying your strengths and weaknesses
A therapist can guide you towards building resilience and grit to handle
yourself better in the instance of a panic attack
Help in supervised guided discovery and behavior training to regulate our
physiological response to stressors better.
A collaborative and safe environment helps you to enhance your overall
well-being while you can talk about your emotional problems freely.
Thought Restructuring and Distress tolerance skills equipped by counselors
will help in better management of the triggers that usually end up in a panic
attack.
Online counselors can provide you emotional support and strategies to create
social support for self.
FAQs:
What is the 3 3 3 rule for panic attacks?
The 3 3 3 rule is based on the principle of getting one distracted from the
thoughts and feelings of panic attacks. It consists of three following steps:
-
The person is asked to identify three objects in their surroundings and
observe them with minor details, such as their texture, color, shape, etc.
-
In the second step, the person is asked to identify and describe three
sounds in their surroundings, e.g. birds chirping, trees rustling, water
burbling, the sound of a fan, children passing by, etc.
-
In the last step, the person identifies body parts, such as fingers, toes,
shoulders, and eyes, in detail and describes them.
How can I cure my panic attacks naturally?
My therapist helped me learn some mindfulness-based techniques and
self-compassion skills, which has substantially decreased the frequency of my
panic attacks. I am regularly indulging in breathing exercises and
understanding my psychological triggers. In order to help those triggers
several preventive strategies are being taught to me by my therapist.
Are panic attacks normal?
Panic attacks are a common reaction to stressors, experienced by a diverse
range of individuals. However, they might not be normal and require medical
and psychological attention towards them.
How do I stop panic attacks forever?
Thought restructuring and mindful breathing can prevent panic attacks in the
long run. Panic attacks can be a dreadful experience, however, they require to
be handled gently. The idea is to work on the cues and preventive strategies
at the basic.
How long do panic attacks last?
This is very subjective. There’s no time duration of how long these panic
attacks last. Every individual has his/her triggers. Symptoms and their
duration can also vary.
Can I recover from panic attacks?
Yes, one can recover from anxiety attacks after employing psychologically
healthy behavior.