4 Tactics to Stop A Panic Attack In Its Tracks

Ah, panic attacks.

Last week, I wrote about the difference between panic attacks and anxiety attacks. They are both nightmares, of course, but I’d argue that panic attacks are the more intense, nightmarish ones. I consider myself deeply lucky that I haven’t had either in years, but I still remember the pain: The feeling that my bowels were going to turn to liquid, the heart racing, the desperate desire to escape and sensation that you are going to crawl out of your own skin at any moment.

Defeating panic attacks takes quite a bit – often some combination of therapy, medication or tranquilizers. It takes planning, effort, and strategy. However, there are also tactics which I think you can use in order to defeat or slow a panic attack. Yes, I mean tactics: Specific things which you can do in order to feel more powerful and regain control over your own body and mind.

Here are 4 of them:

Pick a Number. Add By 7. Repeat.

My anxiety was out of control in college, particularly senior year. That time period ultimately resulted in a medication adjustment, increased therapy and the development of a series of tactics with my therapist to stop an panic attack. And this one worked, a lot.

When you have a panic attack, your mind just whirls out of control. The key – as exemplified by this effort and others – is to stop it from doing so. To that end, you have to distract yourself.

So, ask yourself? What’s 1,054 + 7? And then another 7? And then another? Get bored? Subtract by 8 now. Just keep going. Take all of that mental energy you are feeling and put it elsewhere. Do whatever you can to break the chain of anxiety which has wrapped its way around your neck.

Notice Stuff

I actually got this one from a LifeHacker article, and it apparently came from BoJack Horesman. Specifically, two characters are talking, and one starts having a panic attack. The other asks him to notice the things which are giving her anxiety, and then start noticing and describing the more mundane things. Chairs. Tables. Lamps.

I think this one works similar to my example above, but with a different basic idea: You try to distract yourself by immersing yourself in another activity. This, of course, can be impossible to do when your mind feels broken, but it is absolutely worth the effort. With this tactic, you try to lose yourself in something else. You find a detailed object and go DEEP. What color is it? What do you think it feels like? When was it made and who do you think made it?

Allow your mind to run away from itself.

Guided Visualization

Guided Visualization is just what it sounds like – you use it to escape your own mind. Either through an audio or visual file, you follow the narrator on a journey. It often involves breathing deeply and relaxing.

Thanks to YouTube, there are no shortage of examples. Even better is that many of them are highly specific to panic attacks.

I’ll say this: These were hard for me when I had bad ones. When they were on their way out or just starting, my wife could often give me a visualization scenario that worked, but as the panic heated up, it became even harder to focus on visualization. Everyone is different, of course, and I hope this works better for you than it did for me.

Understand What’s Happening

Yes, I understand that this one sounds utterly ridiculous, but if you are capable of thinking logically (big if – big big if), this may be helpful. On a biological level, a panic attack is a misfiring of your body’s flight or fight response. Your brain perceives a threat when none exists. As such, you have to try to trick your brain into coming back to reality.

Difficult as it can be, try to take a step back, something akin to mindfulness. Say to yourself: “This is just a misfiring of the neurons of my brain. Nothing is wrong. There is no threat. I am safe.”

If you can understand what is going on – that there is no threat – you may be able to get yourself out of the attack.

As always, I welcome your advise. And also, please understand, much of what I wrote will not work for everyone. Or maybe anyone, I don’t know. But these things did help me – and I hope they can help you, you too.