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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Kristen_03 on October 14, 2003, at 10:12:36
10 Commandments to Remember During a Panic Attack
The following article was originally published at: www.open-mind.org1) It does not matter if you feel frightened, bewildered, unreal, unsteady. These feelings are nothing more than an exaggeration of the normal bodily reactions to stress.
2) Just because you have these sensations doesn’t mean you are very sick. These feelings are just unpleasant frightening, not dangerous. Nothing worse will happen to you.
3) Let your feelings come. They’ve been in charge of you. You’ve been pumping them up making them more acute. Stop pumping. Don’t run away from panic. When you feel the panic mount, take a deep breath as you breathe out, let go. Keep trying. Stay there almost as if you were floating in space. Don’t fight the feeling of panic. Accept it. You can do it.
4) Try to make yourself as comfortable as possible without escaping. If you’re on a street, lean against a post or stone wall. If you’re in the check-out line of the department store, find a quiet corner. If you’re in a shop, tell the salesperson you don’t feel well need to sit for a while. Do not jump into your car go home in fear.
5) Stop adding to your panic with frightening thoughts about what is happening where it might lead. Don’t indulge in self-pity think, “Why can’t I be like all the other normal people? Why do I have to go through all this?” Just accept what is happening to you. If you do this, what you fear most will not happen.
6) Think about what is really happening to your body at that moment. Do not think, “Something terrible is going to happen. I must get out.” Repeat to yourself, “I will not fall, faint, die or lose control.”
7) Now wait give the fear time to pass. Do not run away. Others have found the strength. You will too. Notice that as you stop adding the frightening thoughts to your panic, the fear starts to fade away by itself.
8) This is your opportunity to practice. Think of it that way. Even if you feel isolated in space, one of these days you will not feel that way. Sometime soon you will be able to go through the panic say “I did it.” Once you say this, you will have gone a long way toward conquering fear. Think about the progress you have already made. You are in control of the situation!
9) Try to distract yourself from what is going on inside you. Look at your surroundings. See the other people on the street, in the bus. They are with you, not against you.
10) When the panic subsides, let your body go loose, take a deep breath go on with your day. Remember, each time you cope with a panic, you reduce your fear.
Posted by Scribbler on October 15, 2003, at 17:52:15
In reply to 10 commandments 2 remember during a panic attack, posted by Kristen_03 on October 14, 2003, at 10:12:36
Kristin, this took me back to the first panic attack I had -- over forty years ago. And I realized I've been fighting this fear ever since (that's why I've just started Lexapro and am hoping the anxiety will be lessened if not go away entirely). I had not thought about that first panic attack for years, maybe decades! My mother was shopping with me and was embarrassed when I needed to ask for a chair to sit down on, in a department store. So strange, the lifetime haunts we carry with us from childhood/adolescent terrors! Scribbler
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