Everyone experiences, to a greater or lesser extent, what we know as anxiety. This state of psychological and physiological activation usually goes hand in hand with very significant discomfort, as well as feeling alert or afraid even though there is nothing nearby that constitutes a real danger
However, there are those who, in addition to feeling anxiety in complex and demanding everyday contexts (such as before an exam), experience panic attacks relatively frequently. If feeling anxiety is normal, going through these attacks is not so normal, since they are qualitatively different experiences from what can happen to us when we notice that the day is going uphill.
In this article we will see how to regain control and calm down during a panic attack, although it is difficult to find an “instant cure” and a good part of the success or failure of this task will depend on the situation in which we find ourselves. But first, let’s start with the basics.
This phenomenon has different dimensions. In its psychological aspect, a panic attack involves the experimentation of an intense fear that arises suddenly, and many times without a clear trigger or with a rather diffuse one. For example, it can appear when hiking in a place where there are many bushes with thorns on the sides of the trail, even though it is relatively difficult to get punctured by them.
panic attacks They usually have, therefore, a purely emotional root, foreign to logic, although this is not always the case and real dangers can trigger them. These attacks usually last a few minutes, although occasionally they can last up to an hour or more. Its basic symptoms are the following:
Thus, panic attacks are something similar to what would happen if we released all the anxiety stored for days and made it affect us in a concentrated way in a few minutes, especially during the first five. On the other hand, in many cases the appearance of these episodes is unpredictable, among other things because their onset does not even depend on whether we are thinking about something that we find stressful.
What to do during a panic attack?
To manage the panic attack in the best possible way and calm yourself down again as soon as possible, follow the guidelines you will see below.
1. If you can, find a quiet place nearby
It is good to find a quiet place, since Avoiding exposure to environments that are highly overloaded with stimuli can fuel panic However, it is very important that you look for that space of relative calm in the closest places you are, just a few meters away.
If you decide to move more, for example changing floors of the building you are in or going to a park, this can practically become an escape. Which brings us to the next tip.
2. Don’t run away
Running away only confirms the mental frame you are in when experiencing panic, as it reminds you that there is something you should try to get away from. That means that if you move a lot, It is very easy to transform that simple transfer into a hasty retreat which at the same time feeds the fear that the situation that affects you could follow you (yes, even if what makes you panic is not something material or is very diffuse).
Setting yourself the task of thinking about very complex things will only frustrate you, since, when you are going through a panic attack, you will not be able to do it, giving you more reasons to worry.
That is to say, if upon feeling the symptoms of a crisis of these characteristics you begin to try to remember who the Goth kings of the Iberian Peninsula were, or you propose to rehearse an imaginary conversation, failure will remind you again and again that it is happening. something serious enough to sneak through all your mental processes
4. Adopt a very passive attitude
To calm yourself during an anxiety crisis, it is best to stay in something like a “state of hibernation”: not concentrate on anything in particular, or pay attention to anything that is happening around us. Assuming that the main problem is the panic attack itself and not a real danger located nearby, The desirable thing is to ignore everything and let the experience pass alone just like a skier would do when he notices that he has a sheet of ice underneath.
One way to help achieve this is to stop focusing your gaze and then mentally repeat a very simple word, although without paying attention to whether we do it correctly or not.
