Fear of Fear: How to deal with a panic attack
Panic attacks, alas, are familiar to too many. These are states of severe anxiety or panic, when it becomes difficult for a person to breathe and it seems that he is about to faint or die altogether. Attacks last an average of five to twenty minutes, always happen suddenly and as if for no reason. Maya Latse recently told us about the fight against panic attacks, and now with the help of a psychologist-consultant, an EMDR therapist, a leading support group for women, "You are not alone," and co-founders of the Re-Woman project Anna Silnitskaya decided to collect practical recommendations for those who encountered with attacks and does not know what to do. Of course, there is no universal method or mechanism - but you can look at different methods and find your own.
Sasha Savina
Study information
“Many people are afraid of panic attacks - this is such a“ fear of fear, ”or“ fear of anxiety, ”says Anna Silnitskaya. For example, if an attack occurs on an airplane as a symptom of a phobic disorder, aerophobia, then people are often not afraid of what they are the principle of flying, and the fact that they fly and an attack happens. " In this situation, it is useful to learn more about attacks. "In our autonomic nervous system (it innervates all the most important organs and large muscles, participates in the regulation of vital processes) there are two departments (there are three of them, but for convenience, let's say two) - the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the basic stress reactions ( “Beat,” “Run,” “Freeze,” and a few more, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and rest, says Anna. “During a panic attack, the sympathetic nervous system is very strongly activated, and the parasympathetic is the other way around. Man’s task - pom Rename "balance of power" ".
Coping with panic attacks helps many understanding what exactly happens to the body. The realization that heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, nausea, the feeling that a person is about to faint (unless, of course, it is a panic attack, and not the symptoms of another condition or illness), are not dangerous, despite all terrible sensations a person does not really die, and his health is most likely not threatened. It may be useful for many to remind themselves that the panic attack will pass - and that everything is temporary.
Make sure that the attacks are not related to health
In the fight against panic attacks, it is important to make sure that it is they. First, it is necessary to distinguish them from the "usual" anxiety and panic, which everyone periodically faces: panic attacks are stronger and are accompanied by physiological symptoms like dizziness or nausea. Secondly, it is important not to confuse panic attacks with symptoms of other diseases and conditions: for example, the manifestations of panic attack and heart attack are similar. In addition, panic attacks can be symptoms of various health problems. For example, they may be manifestations of anxiety or phobic disorders - and then it is worth dealing with them as part of treatment. On the other hand, panic attacks can be associated with neurological or respiratory diseases and have nothing in common with the state of mental health - and then it is worth referring to the appropriate specialists.
To make sure that nothing threatens health, it is worth checking out. You can visit different specialists: general practitioner, endocrinologist, and maybe a neurologist. “Panic attacks have somatic causes. It will be hard, not knowing about them, to try to stabilize the condition - it may not improve, although a person makes every effort for this,” notes Anna Silnitskaya. If a person visited many doctors, but none of them could detect anything, perhaps the problem is still in alarm.
Pick a practice that suits you
In a situation of panic attack, you should pay attention to a number of practices. It is worth starting with the respiratory system, which helps to stabilize a person’s condition a little and release space and energy inside the nervous system for the cerebral cortex. The UK National Health Service recommends several of them — for example, inhale slowly and deeply through the nose and exhale as slowly and deeply through the mouth. Other options are to inhale and exhale for five counts, or simply close your eyes and concentrate on breathing. Simple actions can be added to breathing practices: drink water, eat, listen to music, add sensory impressions, such as your favorite smell.
After you have given yourself a "first aid", you can use the so-called stabilization practices - these include, for example, the practice of awareness and the practice of directional imagination.
Practices of awareness are, for example, meditations in which a person follows the breathing, or a body scanning technique, when you need to mentally slowly and consistently pay attention to all parts of the body in turn, relaxing intense areas.
Practices of directed imagination imply that a person imagines something. The most common and famous is called "good place", or "safe place". It is necessary to imagine a situation in which it was good and calm, and under the audio guide to stay in it, try to connect with the sensations that she gave.
You can try a slow bilateral stimulation: the essence of the technique is to very slowly alternately tapping yourself on the shoulders. There are also special binaural applications for the phone: they alternately stimulate the right and left hemispheres of the brain with the help of sound signals.
Another practice is working with anxiety. You can imagine the alarm as an unwinding spiral (or a spinner, whirligig, and so on) - first think about how it turns (and, accordingly, the alarm increases), and then arbitrarily start to twist it in the other direction.
“A technician is a lot, but the main rule is that they will not work and you don’t even need to offer them to people whose condition has not stabilized, who have not returned breathing to normal,” warns Anna Silnitskaya. That is why it is advised to start first with breathing practices - and only then proceed to more complex techniques, otherwise there is a risk to make yourself worse.
Beware of coffee and other exciting beverages.
Panic attacks are closely related to physiology: for example, some studies show that the propensity for anxiety disorders may be due to heredity. It is believed that stress can trigger a new cycle of panic attacks or make them stronger - but equally important is the condition of the body. Despite the fact that panic attacks occur suddenly and as if for no reason, sometimes they can be provoked by a physiological reaction to something. For example, if a person's heart rate increases due to coffee, sports, or some kind of medication, he may take it as the start of a panic attack - and the “fear of fear” will lead to a “full-fledged” attack. In addition, experts emphasize that coffee, exercise and medicine can really cause a panic attack - and it is very difficult to separate the physiological causes from the psychological ones.
The National Health Service of the United Kingdom advises to exercise regularly to cope with stress, and to avoid sweet foods and drinks, caffeine and alcohol, and quit smoking, as all this can worsen your condition and situation with panic attacks.
Learn your triggers
Often, people try to avoid situations and circumstances in which their panic attack occurred: for example, if an attack happened in a large supermarket, a person may look for different excuses not to return there. Sometimes this avoidance comes to a phobia (that is, uncontrolled anxiety), and in the most serious cases, agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces, when a person may be afraid to just go outside and leave the safe space of the house.
If you deal with the causes of fear and separate the trigger from the state itself does not work, you should contact a psychotherapist.
Contact a specialist
In addition to the techniques that help stop panic attacks, it is worth fighting globally with the help of psychotherapy. Drug treatment prescribed by a psychiatrist can be added to it - in such situations certain antidepressants can be prescribed, and sometimes drugs for epilepsy.
One of the areas of psychotherapy that is often recommended in such cases is cognitive-behavioral. The American Psychological Association notes that this method helps to identify triggers that trigger a panic attack: some thought, a specific situation or situation. As soon as the person undergoing therapy realizes that the trigger and the attack itself are not related to each other, it ceases to respond so acutely to what previously caused panic. In addition to cognitive-behavioral therapy, EMDR therapy can be used in treatment. This is a relatively new direction, which, nevertheless, like cognitive-behavioral therapy, is recommended by WHO for treating the effects of injury (panic attacks may be associated with post-traumatic disorder).
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