There are many people who would like to know how to prevent panic attacks but don’t really believe it is possible. After suffering for many years, in some cases, they think they have tried everything. They have been let down by the medical profession, who prescribe drugs that only mask the symptoms, or psychiatric therapies that don’t work. To prevent panic attacks, you need to take a different approach.
What causes panic attacks? There are different theories about this. Those who favor the medication option like to talk of a chemical imbalance in the brain. But since there is no test for this, it remains just a theory.
Repressed emotions, say others, but we must all be subject to some of those. They don’t cause us all to have debilitating panic attacks though.
Some blame exhaustion, mental, physical or emotional, that leads to a state of generalized anxiety. This leaves us more sensitive to potential triggers. A strange bodily sensation or a dark thought has us spiraling towards panic.
When it is labeled, ‘Anxiety Disorder’ by the medical profession, it just adds to the belief that there is something for you to worry about.
When you finally go into a full blown panic attack, your ‘fight or flight’ response is triggered. An automatic system kicks in, to prepare your body to defend itself or to run away. It gets the adrenaline pumping and produces many of the strange sensations associated with a panic attack. But this is perfectly natural and nothing to worry about.
It is out of your control, but why do you need to control it? You are able to breathe without having to think about it. Everything is fine but it doesn’t feel like that. You have the urge to fight this feeling, but fighting it only makes it seem worse.
In battling your panic attacks, you give energy to them. What is happening is a normal bodily process and it can’t cause you any real harm. When the threat has passed, a second system will restore the normal balance. You need to let your body do what it knows how to do.
In order to prevent panic attacks, you have to have a different mental approach to them when they begin and start to build up. Then you need techniques to address the underlying anxiety. And finally, you need to make the recovery permanent. Be prepared for set backs and realize that it is just part of the healing process. It is possible for anyone to prevent their panic attacks from returning by following a few simple methods.
Part one of this plan is very surprising. It requires you to embrace your panic attacks and explore them with interest. It is surprising how quickly your fear of them drops away. There is work to do but it is not difficult. Anyone can end their panic attacks.