What To Do If You Have An Anxiety Attack

Have you ever had an anxiety attack and did not know how to deal with it? Anxiety attacks, also known as panic, panic attacks or panic attacks, are episodes of fear, anxiety or intense discomfort that cause a variety of physical and mental symptoms. These include palpitations, difficulty breathing, fear of losing control or going crazy or even dying.

In this article, we give you some ideas on what to do if you have an anxiety attack. It is important to try to stay calm, find a safe place, and above all to focus on your breath (or an external object, to decentralize your attention).

Anxiety attacks

An anxiety attack is defined in the DSM-5 as a sudden intense fear / discomfort that reaches its maximum expression in a few minutes. During this time, four (or more) symptoms occur. These include palpitations, sweating, tremor or shaking, feelings of suffocation, chest pain or discomfort, etc.

Antonio Cano Vindel is Professor of Psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid and President of the Spanish Society for the Study of Anxiety and Stress. He states that anxiety attacks are “extreme emotional alarming reactions that create fear”.

This type of crisis is related to moments of stress or traumatic events. However, not all anxiety attacks are triggered by an identifiable cause. In other words, they can occur in times of calm as well as stress.

What to do if you have an anxiety attack

Remember that an anxiety attack will disappear sooner or later. However, in the meantime, you can take small actions so that the fear and pain you feel is reduced and disappears faster.

Remember that the original goal is to make you stop thinking about your symptoms. Therefore, try to breathe slowly and focus your attention on things other than your symptoms and thoughts.

1. Breathe calmly

At this point, you do not need to breathe very deeply. You just need to control your breathing. This process is usually automatic. What you are doing, however, is regulating it in a way that is the opposite of how it would be automatically regulated in the face of a real threat.

You can try the following: Inhale air for two or three seconds. Hold it for two or three more and exhale gradually. You will soon see how to repeat this exercise to control your breathing. Consequently, it gradually reduces the symptoms of anxiety.

2. Find a safe and quiet place

Another thing to do if you have an anxiety attack is to find a safe and quiet place, where you can not hurt yourself.

Sit down if you think it is necessary. Try to get a sense of calm. If you think you will feel safer if you call someone, then do it.

Try to stay calm

It is clear that it is not easy to stay calm during an anxiety attack. However, you do not have to set yourself the goal of being exceptionally calm.

Just keep breathing calmly and do not give any negative thoughts. Just focus on your breath.

4. Focus on non-inner things

To stop focusing your attention on the symptoms of the anxiety attack, it is a good idea to concentrate on something outside of yourself. It can be anything, people passing by, a tree, a bench, the window…

Just look at the object and keep breathing. Alternatively, you can just focus on your breath.

5. Do not aggravate the symptoms

You often think of an anxiety attack as something that can hurt you. Therefore, before one, you tend to develop catastrophic thoughts or even thoughts of dying from the seizure. However, the truth is that you can not die from an anxiety attack.

Therefore, do not try to enlarge the symptoms. Think of them as the same feelings you will experience, for example at an exam or before you speak in public.

Even if you experience them as extremely intense, the truth is that the symptoms are not dangerous in themselves. Above all, remember that the  seizure will go away sooner or later.

6. Normalize the situation

According to experts , many people fear that the symptoms at the beginning of the anxiety attack may be observed by others. Therefore, they try to normalize the situation. Whether you are observed or not, try to find a safe and quiet place if you feel too exposed.

Remember that normalizing the situation does not mean that you downgrade or invalidate your symptoms. On the contrary, it is clear that you suffer a lot in an anxiety attack. But relativizing the situation can help you when you experience one.

If you ever experience an anxiety attack, try using the guidelines we mentioned above. The most important thing is that you remain aware that a panic or anxiety attack is not dangerous, even if it is very troublesome.

Above all, remember that it is important to seek professional help to identify the possible causes of these seizures and prevent them. Especially if you experience that you experience repeated seizures over a long period of time.