How to Survive Panic Anxiety Attacks

Disasters happen. No matter how much cautious and conscientious you are with your driving, with crossing the streets, with the way you use your appliances at home, accidents will always happen and sometimes you can't do anything to stop it or prevent it from happening.

What you can do instead is to stop yourself from panicking and from making an accident worst than it really is. This is however easier said than done. After all when confronted with disastrous and dangerous situations, who would not be afraid and panic?

Although there are some people who maintain composure even at the face of disasters and accidents, the vast majority of people will panic especially when danger is already immediate. This is because people have innate instincts to protect themselves from harm. They also have an innate fear for their lives that can magnify two-fold during calamities. This fear accelerates your heartbeat and increases your impulse to flee.

Panic attacks are frequently created by the brain. It can be conquered. In fact, there are a lot of ways to overcome panic anxiety attacks. Here are some of them:

Acknowledge that you are panicking

One of the primary ways to stop panicking is to acknowledge that you are panicking. By admitting this, you are putting the problem outside of yourself. Some experts will even talk to themselves as calmly as possible, saying over and over again to not panic. Self-talk during panic situations is very effective.

Focus on the situation and not on yourself

Although you also need to think of your own safety, it is also good to focus on the situation for a while and think logically about it. Think of ways how to deal with the situation. What can you do to minimize the effects of the accident? Can you call someone to help you? What things can you do to get away from the area. By consciously thinking about the situation, you are able to get a perspective of what happened and in a way, also manage to forget your own fear.

Hold on to something

People who are nervous calm themselves by holding on to something, anything. It can be an object that is very important to you such as locket or even an image of God. If there are no personal objects nearby, you can actually hold on to anything, a rock, a stick, a wood. The support that these things provide helps to calm our heartbeats and silence the anxiety that we are feeling. Besides, Indians believe that when you concentrate hard enough our anxieties can be absorbed by things around us.

Take a deep breath

It may seem like a cliché but taking a deep breath when you feel yourself panicking will do wonders for you. A fresh breath inside your body helps relax the muscles and slow down the heart rate, resulting in a calm take on the situation.

Taking deep breath also allows people to brace themselves and prepare for what they will have to face ahead. It is one way of psyching yourself to stop panicking and to start surviving.

Pray

The power of prayers should no be discounted. When you know that you have someone who will take care of you and will protect you, you will have extraordinary strength, both in mind and in body. Saying a prayer of help or even something as simple as a sign of the cross or any of the gestures that your religion has, will help you calm down.