Panic

Treat your Panic Attacks like a Bully…

First of all…words are powerful, for they modify the perception of this event.

Let’s call the ‘attack’ an ‘episode.’ Stop giving the panic episode the same power as you would being mauled to death by a bear; now *that’s* an attack!

~Do you fear when your next panic episode will occur any moment?

~This episode truly feels ‘out-of-the-blue’ … doesn’t it?

~A panic episode does not lurk in the background, waiting to pounce.

Panic attacks are actually something we decide to initiate when we feel out of control.

~Hang on….stay with me…

It usually begins with a racing, or skipped, heart beat or tightness around the chest, which is misinterpreted by your brain that you are in physical danger-at which point your brain fires of a warning to the body, flooding your brain with stress hormones and preparing your body to fight or flee or paralyze.

Being that the bodily sensations are very intense and unusual, sometimes the unsuspecting person finds himself in the emergency room believing he is having a heart attack.

~Scary?

~You bet it is! It is downright frightening…

~ It is nearly impossible to visualize or think your way to calm state at this point.

After the panic episode has run its course; it is followed by a prolonged period of general anxiety. Then, one is left with the fear of the fear, like “When is that awful episode going to happen again?”

~So now that you know this valuable information, what is the next step?

The answer may not be what you expect.

~The more you run from anxiety or panic, the worse it gets.

~So, what do you do?
………………………………………………………………………

Treat the episode like a bully. Except when *this* bully comes knockin’ on your door (when your heart begins to race), invite him in; stop running from him. Essentially, you face the bully; let him do his thing and then begin to slowly escort him right back out of your house.

Then begin the countdown, beginning at 25 and picture the image of an upside down triangle…count slowly down to 0.Don’t despair if, when you get to 0, it doesn’t completely disappear. Trust me; continue this process for several times. It works fantastic because it shifts the power to your favor over time.

Note: The way you will know it is successful is you will begin to count quicker with time, in an effort to ‘catch up’ with the episode (bully) leaving.