The information below can be very helpful if you suffer from panic attacks, however it should not replace treatment from your physician or licensed mental health professional.
- Talk soothingly to yourself—silently tell yourself:
“I’m going to be ok. It’s all right.”
“This will pass, there is light at the end of the tunnel”
“Be patient, you’re going to be fine.”
- Concentrate on a pleasant image. Imagine a place that is personally calming and peaceful; for example, on the beach, going for a walk, cozy by a warm fireplace, by a lake or stream, etc.
- Concentrate on making your muscles relax—try to make all your muscles go limp.
- Remember that although your feelings and symptoms are very frightening, they are not dangerous or harmful.
- Understand that what you are experiencing is an exaggeration of your normal bodily reactions to stress.
- Don’t fight or try to control the feelings in your body or try to wish them away. In your mind, talk to your anxiety or panic. Tell it that it’s okay to be with you. In other words give it permission to be happening. The more you don’t resist it the less intense it will be.
- Don’t add to your panic by thinking about what “might” happen. If you find yourself saying “what if,” tell yourself “so what!”
- Stay in the present. Notice what is really happening to you as opposed to what you think might happen.
- Label your fear level from 0 to 10, and watch it go up or down. Notice that it does not stay at a very high level for very long.
- When you find yourself thinking about fear, change your primary thought. Focus on and carry out a simple and manageable task.
- Notice that when you stop adding frightening thoughts to your fear, it begins to fade.
- When the fear comes, expect it and accept it. Wait and give it time to pass without running away from it.