How To Not Have An Anxiety Attack

What Triggers An Anxiety Attack

Anxiety attacks are unusual, in that they can be triggered under moments of heavy stress or fear, or they can be triggered by nothing at all. Often the first anxiety attack comes at a moment in a person’s life when they’re experiencing a lot of stress . But future panic attacks can be caused by almost anything:

• Worry that theyll have another panic attack.
• Paying too much attention to how the body feels.
• Absolutely nothing.

Once again, it is because anxiety attacks can seem and feel so random that not everyone that has them even knows or believes that theyre having an anxiety attack. Those that have panic attacks too often may even start to develop other anxiety conditions, such as health anxiety, because of how difficult it is to feel like their anxiety attacks are real.

Not everyone that has an anxiety attack once will have it again, however. Some people only experience an anxiety attack because they are under profound stress and exhaustion, or theyre faced with a dangerous situation. For example, if you almost got into a car accident you may experience a panic attack, but only because your anxiety in that situation was so strong that it was uncontrollable.

But many that have panic attacks will have them again. It depends on the individual.

Talk Yourself Through Your Worst

Part of what allows our emotions to spiral is when we attach a narrative to them, which often stokes the fires of anxiety. Rather than panicking about the panic, we can remind ourselves that we will be OK, even if the seeming worst-case scenario of a panic attack occurs. A component of panic for many people is agoraphobia, which is defined as extreme fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving ones own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult. I see this play out most often when someone is afraid of being in a situation where it would feel particularly embarrassing or inconvenient to have a panic attack. This comes up frequently around the topic of public transport. Many people have anxiety on the tube, subway or metro because they feel trapped. Then they compound that anxiety by imagining: If I were to have a panic attack here, I would have no way of escaping.

Always remind yourself that you are not trapped. You can get off at the next stop and sit on a bench or leave the station. Finally, even if you associate public transport with having panic attacks, just remember how many times youve ridden the tube without having a panic attack.

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Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

SSRIs are a type of antidepressant also used to treat anxiety and panic attacks. They increase serotonin levels in the brain. They do this by blocking the natural reabsoprtion cycle of serotonin into nerve cells, allowing more serotonin to flow through the brain.

Serotonin is a chemical messenger associated with mood regulation. Stabilizing serotonin levels helps to reduce anxiety and panic.

SSRIs have been widely studied. They carry a low risk of serious side effects and are effective long term. As a result, theyre one of the most commonly prescribed medications for panic disorder.

Some SSRIs commonly prescribed to treat panic disorder include:

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What Is Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is a complex of emotions such as worry, dread, and fearalong with physical fight-or-flight symptomsthat some people experience before and during a test. Its a form of performance anxietywhen the pressure to succeed becomes so overwhelming that people are unable to concentrate and operate at 100%. Some degree of nervousness around test-taking is normal, but when symptoms cause panic attacks, hinder learning, or impair performance, its important to find ways to modulate this response.

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Try Muscle Relaxation Techniques

Another symptom of panic attacks is muscle tension. Practicing muscle relaxation techniques may help limit an attack. This is because if the mind senses that the body is relaxing, other symptoms such as rapid breathing may also diminish.

A technique called progressive muscle relaxation is a popular method for coping with anxiety and panic attacks.

This involves tensing up and then relaxing various muscles in turn. To do this:

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How Common Are Anxiety Disorders

The World Health Organisation estimates that 1 in 13 people have an anxiety disorder. This means that there are more than half a billion people living with a highly treatable mental illness.

What does this mean for you?

If you are experiencing prolonged anxiety, you are not alone. It is common for people with an anxiety disorder to feel isolated and misunderstood. The good news is that anxiety can be effectively managed with the right type of guidance from a health professional.

What Helps To Manage Panic Attacks

Panic attacks can be frightening, but there are things you can do to help yourself cope. It could help to print off these tips, or write them down, and keep them somewhere easy to find.

During a panic attack:

• Focus on your breathing. It can help to concentrate on breathing slowly in and out while counting to five.
• Stamp on the spot. Some people find this helps control their breathing.
• Focus on your senses. For example, taste mint-flavoured sweets or gum, or touch or cuddle something soft.
• Try grounding techniques. Grounding techniques can help you feel more in control. Theyre especially useful if you experience dissociation during panic attacks. See our page on self-care for dissociation for more information on grounding techniques.

After a panic attack:

• Think about self-care. Its important to pay attention to what your body needs after youve had a panic attack. For example, you might need to rest somewhere quietly, or eat or drink something.
• Tell someone you trust. If you feel able to, it could help to let someone know youve had a panic attack. It could be particularly helpful to mention how they might notice if youre having another one, and how youd like them to help you.

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What Is An Anxiety Attack

Anxiety attacks are a combination of physical and mental symptoms that are intense and overwhelming. The anxiety is more than just regular nervousness. The anxiety is often a feeling of immense, impending doom that makes many people feel they’re about to die, or that everything around them is breaking down.

It creates physical symptoms that are so severe they actually mimic legitimate, serious health problems.

Those that haven’t had an anxiety attack before often have no idea that what they’re experiencing is anxiety. That’s because the symptoms of anxiety attacks and panic attacks mimic extremely serious issues, such as:

• Heart attacks and heart failure.

Yet despite how intense these things can feel, anxiety attacks are not even remotely dangerous.

What Is The 54321 Technique

The most common grounding technique for anxiety attacks is the 54321 method. In this, you identify Taste is sometimes hard to identify, so you could substitute that by thinking of your favorite thing to taste. Some versions of the 54321 grounding method say to name one thing you like about yourself.

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Controlling Anxiety Takes Time

Theres no quick fix for anxiety, and it may often feel like an uphill struggle. But by gaining awareness of what causes your symptoms, and getting help from your doctor, you can manage your symptoms.

You may find some of these hacks work for you straight away and others may have no effect at all, but the important thing is to keep trying.

Giving in to feelings of anxiety by retreating from the world only served to make my life more difficult in the long run. Continuing to search for solutions that work for me has been key to my recovery. Practice makes perfect, so dont stop trying to find ways that work for you.

Fiona Thomas is a lifestyle and mental health writer who lives with depression and anxiety. Visit her website or connect with her on .

Learn 9 Ways To Lessen Or Stop The Symptoms

• Frequently Asked Questions

A panic attack can be stopped or controlled with mind-body techniques such as relaxation, distraction, and mindfulness.

Many people will experience at least one panic attack in their lifetime. Learning to recognize panic attacks is an important first step toward managing them, which can often be done without the need for medication.

Science Photo Library / Getty Images

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What Does Anxiety Attack Mean

Anxiety attacks often have triggers, although they can be triggered by nothing at all. Some people experience anxiety attacks during periods of intense anxiety, but many others experience them “out of nowhere,” usually as a response to a physical sensation. For example, it’s not uncommon to have your first anxiety attack simply because your heartbeat speeds up, because anxiety has caused you to be hypersensitive to these changes.

The causes of anxiety attacks are everything from severe stress to hyperventilation to a need to regain control. It differs for different people, which is why treating it has a great deal to do with identifying triggers. Once you’ve experienced an anxiety attack, the fear of another anxiety attack may actually trigger an attack, because those that are afraid of getting a panic attack again often pay too much attention to their own body, and react to any changes in sensations.

Cool Down Your Negative Beliefs

In anxiety, people tend to have negative beliefs about themselves, the world, and others. These may be irrational but they can feel very real and intense at the moment. If youre feeling anxious, try and cool down your negative thoughts by challenging them with evidence. For example:

• Negative belief: Im going to fail this test. Challenge it with evidence: Ive been studying hard and I know the material.
• Negative belief: Everyone is out to get me. Challenge it with evidence: Most people are kind and want to help.

With these challenges, youre not trying to convince yourself that your beliefs are 100% wrong. Anxiety can still be present even if some of your negative beliefs arent true. But by challenging them, you can help reduce their intensity and power over you.

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Know Your Physical Health Status

Knowing more about your physical health puts you in a better position to tell the difference between panic attack symptoms and signs of a medical condition. Going to your doctor for regular checkups can help you rule out other conditions that would be cause for alarm.

A doctor will be able to differentiate whether the symptoms of panic shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, shaking and sweating, etc. are the result of a medical condition or anxiety, says Dr. Mehta. Also, if you do have a medical condition, educate yourself about those symptoms and how they differ from panic and anxiety.

Think about the specific symptoms youre experiencing. Are they things common during a panic attack? Remind yourself of the conversations with your doctor. Go over the logic in your head or say it out loud.

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There Are Effective Treatments For Anxiety

Treatment is tailored to the diagnosis. Effective options include:

• Lifestyle changes, such as skipping caffeine, exercising regularly, and avoiding medicines or substances that might cause anxiety symptoms.
• Mind-body approaches, such as deep breathing, meditation, mindfulness, and techniques to ease muscle tension and promote calm.
• Psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy. CBT teaches people to challenge and reframe distorted or unhelpful anxious thinking, because thoughts influence feelings and actions. Exposure therapy helps people tolerate and calm anxiety by gradually exposing a person to feared situations or objects under guidance from a therapist.
• Medicines, such as short-acting drugs called benzodiazepines, which are taken as needed when anxiety spikes. Low doses of some antidepressants, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors , help relieve anxiety when taken daily.

Often, a combination of approaches is best. Relieving anxiety with medicine while using CBT or exposure therapy to strengthen coping skills and help retrain the brain can do much to make anxiety manageable.

The Causes Of Unexpected Panic Attacks

Expected panic attacks are typically associated with a specific trigger such as crowds, flying or exams, whereas unexpected panic attacks have no apparent trigger and can seem to happen for no reason.

It is not yet known what causes panic attacks but certain factors may play an important role, including genetics, mental health conditions, major stress or having a predisposition to stress.

Panic attacks are typically experienced as a result of misinterpreting physical symptoms of anxiety. Heart palpitations may be mistaken for symptoms of a heart attack, breathlessness or feeling faint may be taken as a sign that a person is collapsing or dying, and the racing thoughts can lead a person to think that they are losing control of their mind.

These misinterpretations which a person may be unaware that they are doing can trigger a panic attack, which seems to appear out of the blue.

Panic attacks and anxiety attacks certainly share a number of symptoms, but they are different. You can usually tell them apart by:

• The intensity of the symptoms panic attacks symptoms tend to be much more intense and severe than anxiety attack symptoms
• The length of time the main symptoms occur over panic attacks tend to start abruptly and finish quickly , whereas anxiety can build and persist for months on end

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What Is Hyperventilation

Even though your body needs oxygen to survive, and turns that oxygen into carbon dioxide when it’s been used up within the bloodstream, your body also expects a healthy amount of carbon dioxide in your circulatory system as well. Hyperventilation is the act of breathing either too quickly or incorrectly in such a way that you’re taking in too much oxygen while breathing out too much carbon dioxide.

Interestingly, during this time it may feel as though you’re not getting enough air, and your instinct may be to take deeper breaths. But by responding to that sensation by trying to take in more air, you’re actually making your hyperventilation worse, which is why those that try to get deeper breaths often feel their symptoms getting worse, causing further panic.

When there isn’t enough carbon dioxide in your blood, you experience the symptoms of an anxiety attack, including:

• Lightheadedness
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness and more

Notice how each of these symptoms are the same as when you’re suffering from severe anxiety, which is why it often feels like an “attack” and why the symptoms feel so physical. They build on each other to create an experience that feels like something is terribly wrong.

The most likely cause of hyperventilation is breathing too quickly, which is a common response to anxiety. But it’s not the only cause either. You may also hyperventilate because:

How To Do It

4. Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is all about being aware, staying present, and accepting how you feel in the moment.

Some research suggests that mindfulness-based interventions are just as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy for treating anxiety. Of course, the benefits will depend on the person.

Mindfulness strategies include:

• breathing exercises

5. Visualize your happy place

6. Talk to someone

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