Eight Panic Attack Self Help Tips

1) Use Breathing Exercises.

Using breathing exercises to slow down and control the adrenaline reaction fueling your panic attack is the most basic, and probably most effective, panic attack self help tip there is. The first thing you should do when having a panic attack is breathe slowly and deeply. Doing so immediately tells the brain to turn off the adrenaline, depriving your body of the hormones it needs to maintain the panic symptoms.

2) Use Visualization to Relax.

Visualization is also a basic panic attack self-help remedy. After calming down with a few deep breathing exercises, you should imagine things or places or situations that make you calm. Visualizing relaxing images helps you replace the negative, anxiety-inducing thoughts with calm, rational ones. Since the physical symptoms can feed on the mental reaction to the physical symptoms, thus escalating the panic attack, it is important to stop the negative mental reaction as quickly as possible.

3) Laugh.

You’ve probably heard that old saying that laughter is the best medicine. Well it works in this context, too. If not the best panic attack self help technique, laughter is certainly a very good one. When you have a panic attack, your body’s level of cortisol – also known as the “stress hormone” – rises. You feel more stressed, which causes more panic. Laughter is known to decrease the levels of cortisol in the body.

4) Talk to Yourself.

So called self-talk as a panic attack self help remedy is used to help a person in the midst of an attack regain control over the situation. A panic attack is all about the fear of losing control, and if a person can convince herself that she is in control of the attack, even when she isn’t, then she will gain control of the attack. Through self-talk, a person can actually control her seemingly uncontrollable physiological reactions. For example, like deep breathing, telling yourself you are in control in a positive, assertive manner tells your brain to turn off the adrenaline.

5) Practice Yoga.

As a panic attack self help measure, yoga may not directly help during the attack, but it can help you remain calm to avoid an attack. Stress is like fertilizer for the anxiety weed growing in your mind, so you want to avoid it. Exercise is a stress reliever, and yogic exercise has the benefit of relaxing the body and the mind in gentle harmony. As well, depending on the type of yoga a person chooses, she can learn breathing exercises that may prove helpful during a panic attack.

6) Improve Your Diet.

Eating a well-balanced diet is, of course, good for your general physical health, but doing so also provides all the vitamins and nutrients you need for proper mental health. In a general sense, this is a good thing for someone dealing with a mental health issue like a panic or anxiety disorder. Aside from that, though, there are specific ways to tweak your diet to help yourself deal with panic attack. Reducing caffeine, sugar and fat – all of which are known to contribute to anxiety – is a fantastic way to see immediate results from your diet.

7) Try Aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy is a panic attack self help remedy that comes from Ayurvedic traditions, but has worked itself into the mainstream of Western concepts of wellness. You’re probably already familiar with several calming herbs and flowers including lavender, chamomile and ylang ylang. Soothing mists and satchels made with these herbs can be purchased in many bath and body shops, get some and carry them with you to give yourself a spritz when you start to feel anxious.

8) Self-Hypnotize.

It sounds more like some crazy parlor trick than a panic attack self-help remedy, but hypnosis has a long history with anxiety treatment. Hypnosis is often used to improve the efficacy of other forms of treatment, but self-hypnosis can be used to achieve deep relaxation and avoid panic attacks. Self hypnosis basically works like meditation, with a person putting himself in a relaxed, trance-like state using visualization and verbalization techniques. It is best employed as a preventative measure, but if you have the ability to seclude yourself at the onset of a panic attack, you may be able to fend it off with hypnosis.