Panic attacks are intense episodes of severe, overwhelming anxiety. They are best known for their physical symptoms, such as chest pains, rapid heartbeat, and trouble breathing. Yet they also come with cognitive and emotional symptoms as well, such as a feeling and fear that you’re about to die.
It can be strange, then, to tell people that one of the ways to stop panic attacks is to let them happen. They are so frightening, overwhelming, and difficult, that the idea of just “allowing them to occur” seems almost silly. But, while the technique will not work for everyone, there is a reason that some people may find that they need to just accept their panic attacks in order to better treat them.
How, When, and Why Accepting a Panic Attack Can Help
To be clear, not everyone will benefit from this approach. It is recommended that you speak with a therapist to determine what approach will work best for you. There are some people whose panic attacks have a direct trigger, like feeling overwhelmed at work, that may require a different approach. Our therapists at Right Path Counseling can provide more personalized advice.
With that in mind, panic attacks are often a cycle. While the initial cause of panic attacks varies – such as being overwhelmed at work, being stressed in a social setting, experiencing a loss or significant life event, etc. – once panic attacks start, one of the most common triggers of future panic attacks is, specifically, the fear of getting another panic attack.
No one gets used to panic attacks. So when a person has them often, they start to:
- Monitor their body for signs they might get another one.
- Be extremely sensitive to any physical change, knowing it might be an attack coming.
- Experience a swell of anxiety at the idea of a panic attack, even more so if they feel something.
Now, because anxiety causes some of the same symptoms of panic attacks and panic disorder, the anxiety you experience fearing a panic attack is likely to cause symptoms that you notice, triggering an attack. Those that have experienced chronic panic attacks may also develop unusual symptoms that trigger further anxiety. The result is that your fear of panic attacks end up being your most likely trigger for future attacks.
It is a cycle.
Breaking that cycle is an important part of therapy, but one way to break that cycle is to do something that can feel very hard to do: accept that you have panic attacks for now, and try your best to just let yourself have them.
It’s hard to do this, of course. Because they are so severe, the idea that you might allow yourself to have a panic attack can be difficult. But if you’re someone with panic disorder, you’ve also probably noticed that these attacks cannot easily be stopped, and that once they’re over, there’s usually a short period of time where you are okay. Not necessarily feeling great, but where it does feel like it’s over.
Panic attacks last around 10 minutes. If you can teach yourself to be okay waiting out those 10 minutes before moving on, then you can also teach yourself not to fear panic attacks as much or try to monitor for when they occur. If you can reduce the anxiety you have about getting a panic attack, then you may be able to reduce the number of triggers you experience.
The panic attacks will likely still come. But perhaps, over time, they’ll come less often, because you have fewer triggers. Some people can begin to experience a significant reduction in the frequency of their panic attacks once they accept them – as hard as that may sometimes be.
If you combine it with therapy at Right Path Counseling on Long Island, then you put yourself in a much better position to begin the process of controlling these attacks. They don’t typically stop immediately, but they can be reduced and, eventually, under control.
For more information on helping address your panic attacks on Long Island, reach out to Right Path Counseling, today.
