A panic attack is run away anxiety at its highest intensity. Many people experience a fear that they are having a heart attack and seek medical attention. They are profoundly powerful. They include racing thoughts, shortness of breath, and increased heart rate. All efforts to self-sooth seem to make no difference. Again the word panic can’t be understated. When therapists discuss strategies to survive a panic attack we talk about “surfing the emotion” or grounding techniques. If you experience frequent panic attacks, you may have learned to ride the wave of emotional intensity. Afterward you may have learned to reinforce your capacity to survive. This may lower the intensity of the anticipatory anxiety and intensity of recurring panic episodes. This is a form of exposure therapy. Another way to regulate and tolerate the difficulty of a panic attack is to “Ground” oneself in the moment. The following steps are designed to do that.
Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. If possible, slow the exhalation to be twice as long as the inhalation
Begin to focus your attention using your senses into your surroundings
label 5 things you can see
identify 4 things you can touch
find 3 things you can hear
two things you can smell
instead of using taste, try to label one emotion
“Grounding” is one way to survive the 6-20 minutes during which high intensity emotions cycle. This is a lot to take on faith. If you’ve survived a panic attack in the past, you can look backward and recognize that in fact you did survive when in the moment that survival seemed impossible. Practice the “grounding” skills when you aren’t in a panic because if you have the habit of using your senses to identify features in the environment, that habit will kick in when access to your memory fails. You must remember that any effort to engage skillful behavior during a panic attack needs to be reinforced by a little self-validation or cheer leading. The capacity to work on recruiting your mind to help manage the panic leads to a decrease of intensity in the build up phase. Panic attacks are one of the most uncomfortable experiences. You can surf the emotional intensity or learn to ground yourself during the episode. Once any measurable decrease of intensity or duration is noticed, give yourself a big pat on the back. Sing and dance celebrating that you have the capacity to survive.
A panic attack is run away anxiety at its highest intensity. Many people experience a fear that they are having a heart attack and seek medical attention. They are profoundly powerful. They include racing thoughts, shortness of breath, and increased heart rate. All efforts to self-sooth seem to make no difference. Again the word panic can’t be understated. When therapists discuss strategies to survive a panic attack we talk about “surfing the emotion” or grounding techniques. If you experience frequent panic attacks, you may have learned to ride the wave of emotional intensity. Afterward you may have learned to reinforce your capacity to survive. This may lower the intensity of the anticipatory anxiety and intensity of recurring panic episodes. This is a form of exposure therapy. Another way to regulate and tolerate the difficulty of a panic attack is to “Ground” oneself in the moment. The following steps are designed to do that.