Tom sat behind his desk with a pale face and a shirt soaked with sweat. The panic attack was over, but now his whole body was exhausted and his mind was filled with worry… worried that the panic in the middle of the meeting would return.
That's the panic attack. Panic comes and goes quickly, but as long as it happens it feels terrible, exhausting, and seems like it will never end. In addition, all the discomfort felt can lead to fears of a recurrence of the panic, and this worry is often scarier than the panic itself.
The Cause of Panic Attacks
Let's explain panic attacks with the following analogy. Imagine that you are filling a bathtub. As long as it's not full, the water will fit in the tub properly and everything will be fine. But if for some reason you forget to turn off the faucet, the water will overflow and spill out of the tub when its capacity is exceeded.
Panic attacks can be thought of as a manifestation of a pile of stress overflowing and spilling out. Every human being has a "tub" to accommodate stress with different capacities. As long as the stress that is borne has not exceeded its capacity, then everything will be okay. However, if the capacity of this tub is exceeded, for example, because there are too many piles of small unresolved stresses or a sudden spike in stress flow rate occurs because, for example, there is a fundamental change in life, the stress in it will spill out and overflow in the form of panic.
Am I Normal?
Of course. You are still a human being who can be stressed, and anyone who can be stressed can panic. Furthermore, all the scary and strange symptoms you feel when you panic are actually a normal and needed response under the right circumstances.
- Fast breathing and increased heart rate - Your body produces these responses to prepare you for even the most extreme physical activity, such as running from wild animals or mobs trying to harm you or, in more peaceful situations, to help you exercise on the treadmill or lifting weights at the gym. This response feels weird just because you weren't exercising when it happened.
- Sweating a lot - Still the same as above, your body is trying to keep you from overheating so that your muscles and nervous system can function optimally. In addition, it is much harder to catch you when your skin is slick with sweat. Sweat on your hands is also beneficial. As the sweat dries up, your gripping ability will improve so you can climb trees (think of our prehistoric ancestors running and climbing trees to escape predators) or better hold weapons.
- Unable to think clearly and act rationally - Stress and its products, including panic, are emotions. When emotions increase, the ability to think logically decreases, and vice versa. Because you really don't need to be able to calculate the area of a parallelogram when, for example, a criminal suddenly appears and points a knife at you. In this kind of threatened situation what you need is the ability to run fast or fight with your mainstay moves like Bruce Lee.
- Feeling like throwing up or defecating (sorry to mention this) - This is a primitive survival response inherited from our ancient ancestors. At that time we were not at the top of the food chain as we are today. In other words, at that time our ancestors were still on the lunch menu for some predators. Both of these responses (again, sorry to say this), if you are covered in them, will make the predator lose its appetite and discourage from eating you.
As you can see, all of these responses under very extreme circumstances are appropriate and necessary. But if it happens while you're driving or sitting in a café chatting, it's perfectly natural to feel weird.
Controlling Panic
OK, now let's take a look at the available options and what we can do to ease the panic. But before we start, I want to share some facts about panic:
- Panic is like a spring. The more it was suppressed, the greater its repulsion would be.
- Panic can be analogous to your home security alarm. While it may seem otherwise, it actually has good intentions: to warn you of danger. Unfortunately, sometimes this alarm goes off when there isn't really any threat.
- Panic is strong but blind. He needs guidance from you to behave. If there's even the slightest hint from you that there really isn't a threat, then it will stop beeping on its own.
The best strategy for allaying panic is never to try to suppress or fight it, but rather a strategy to control it so that it can return to being useful instead of bothering you with unnecessary noise.
1. Control Your Breath
When we panic, we breathe too fast, this is known as hyperventilation. The effects of hyperventilation are not serious but quite dramatic, such as dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, palpitations, and feeling weak like exhausted. This can trigger new worries, such as worrying about having a heart attack due to tension and a fast heartbeat. These new worries will make your panic feel much stronger than it really is.
Hyperventilation can be relieved by:
- Hold your breath - Right. Hold breath. The feeling of shortness of breath or not being able to breathe that you feel is not due to lack of oxygen, but because you are breathing too much air. Hold your breath for 10 seconds, repeat 3-5 times, then continue with the following steps:
- Use a "calming breath" - Inhale and exhale through the nose, inhale for a count of 10 and exhale for a count of 12. Or take 7 and out 9. Or whatever count you're comfortable with, as long as the breaths out are longer than the ones you take in. This breathing pattern activates your body's natural relaxation response, and because the relaxation response is the opposite of the stress response, you can't help but relax, no matter what you're feeling at the time. Practice this calming breathing pattern every day, as often as possible. The more you get used to this breathing pattern, the easier it will be for you to apply it when needed.
2. Act Normal
Like mentioned above, panic is strong but blind, so how it behaves depends on the clues you give it. When you start to feel like you are going to panic, immediately pay attention to what you are doing. When you are writing, keep writing. If you're talking keep talking. Keep doing what you are doing in the same way as you normally would when the panic is not present. Okay, it might feel less normal than usual, but at least it's close. By continuing to do what you're doing in the usual way, you're giving the panic a hint that the situation is actually okay so it doesn't have to do anything.
This can be analogized to a heavily armed police squad who rushes to the scene after receiving a report of an armed robbery at a bank. After arriving at the crime scene and finding that everything is fine, the team will return to headquarters realizing that it was only a false report and that nothing needs to be done to secure the situation. Give panic a hint. Make it realize that its presence is not needed because in fact everything is fine.
3. Keep Thinking
When emotions increase, logic decreases, and vice versa. Think of something that must use a logical function, like counting backwards from 100 to 1, with subtraction of 3, 100..97..94,... and so on.
With the activation of the logic function, emotions will no longer be dominant. Panic is an emotion, and when emotions are no longer dominant, the panic will also weaken and begin to subside on its own.
Control the Future
"Prevention is better than cure." Desiderius Erasmus
Prevention is the best medicine. The emergence of panic is your mental attempt to tell you that there is something you need to pay attention to. Start doing something to prevent panic attacks from recurring, and as a first step to a more quality and enjoyable life.
1. Meet Your Mental Needs
Just as your body needs adequate food and water to stay alive, your soul also has basic needs to stay healthy and function properly.
Most of the psychological problems, including panic attacks, often stem from not meeting these basic needs for too long. Like a plant placed indoors without sufficient sunlight, its effects may not be immediately apparent, but if after a period of time it remains in such a state, sooner or later it will begin to wither.
Explore More:
The Nine Fundamental Needs of the Soul
2. Control Stress
Panic arises as a result of exceeding your ability to accommodate stress. Reducing stress levels and finding good and healthy ways to deal with problems in life are important things to do. Not only to prevent panic, but also to improve your overall quality of life. Having the right understanding and strategy for stress management is the key.
Explore More:
Stress Management
3. Re-educate Panic
Panic is an alarm that goes off loudly when there is no real danger whatsoever. You need to reset this alarm to sound again if and only if there is a real danger that really threatens your safety. A little note, the following strategy may feel uncomfortable, but it is important to do, because this is what will free you from the shadow of panic.
- Expose yourself to triggers - What is meant by exposing yourself here is to deliberately choose to deal with triggers (places, situations, people, etc.) that have caused you to panic before. For example, if you ever panicked when you were at the mall, then you need to deliberately choose to come to the mall. The factor of choosing here is important. You must come of your own accord and for no other reason. A little note, during the exposure you don't need to have a strong fight with panic, because this is not a test of guts. You just need to stop avoiding the triggers that once made you panic. We tend to avoid what we fear, and tend to be afraid, or more afraid, of what we avoid. So, the best strategy is to stop dodging and instead choose to face.
- Do it gradually - From the example above, you don't need to make it into the mall right away. Willing to come to the mall and stay in the parking lot until the uncomfortable feeling subsides, or at least lessens, is enough. Set your own limits. Again, your goal is to control panic, not test your guts.
- Don't fight your feelings - No matter what happens don't try to suppress or distract from what you are experiencing and feeling. Instead, be fully aware of and observe what is going on and label any sensations that arise. Suppose your body is shaking, instead of trying not to tremble or worry about other people's opinions, observe the sensation and name it: "trembling". When a fear arises, observe the fear and label it: "fear", etc. You don't have to do anything but observe and label. This may be uncomfortable, but rest assured that what you are feeling is only temporary and will subside on its own in a matter of minutes.
- Stay afloat - The point of this strategy is to neutralize your panic response. You deliberately put yourself in a position that would normally cause you to panic. What you are actually doing is re-educating the panic so that it finally understands that there is no threat whatsoever to respond to. Hold on no matter what. If you manage to hold on until these feelings subside then everything will become much easier next time.
- Realize you are capable - Once all those feelings and sensations have subsided, give yourself a genuine compliment. This is important. Your system has worked hard to help you. Give him praise and thanks. Also remember to give thanks for being allowed to succeed. Record this success in your memory, and realize that you can actually control panic.
- Repeat and advance to the next level - In the future, plan to repeat this process again, and continue working to advance to the next level. Still with the example above, if previously you managed to survive in the parking lot, then the next level is getting closer to the mall, at the entrance maybe? Suppose you are playing a game, the more you are skilled, the more "curious" you will be and driven to go to the next level, right?
- The next one will be better - It doesn't matter if you don't succeed in the first attempts. Even if you are only able to last 3-5 minutes, you have actually made an achievement. You may not feel that way, but that's what really happened. Everything you do, no matter how small, will definitely bear fruit. All you have to do is do it and do it again.
4. Make Use of Your Imagination
The essence of this strategy is the same as point-3 above, the difference is that you do it in your mind. The positive results obtained by imagining dealing with a panic trigger in the mind are the same as when confronted physically. Personally I prefer this, because it is probably a much more comfortable alternative to do.
- Sit quietly in a quiet place. What is meant by a quiet place here is a place where you can truly be alone and calm down. This includes choosing a time where you can be completely alone and calm.
- Close your eyes and regulate your breath with a calming breathing pattern as above.
- Once you feel calm, or at least much calmer, start doing the following visualizations:
- Imagine the place, situation, or person that triggered your panic. Imagine seeing yourself in that place, situation, or interacting with that person.
- Still using your imagination, imagine seeing yourself able to control the situation well, by remaining calm, maybe even very relaxed and enjoying being there.
- Feel the difference you feel. Realize that now is calm that fills you and not tension or fear. Reinforce that sense of calm, and realize that you are actually capable of feeling calm and in control in the situation.
- Keep going or repeat until you feel enough. No time limit. Just relax and enjoy.
Notes:
At first you may not feel completely calm right away, and that's normal. In fact, you don't even need to be 100% calm to be able to benefit from this strategy. A little calm here, a few seconds of feeling more comfortable there, that's enough. Do it regularly. Take 20-30 minutes every day, and do this strategy. Over time you will become more and more able to become calmer and in control. Not only in imagination, but also in actual situations.
Final Thoughts
Panic is actually your self-defense mechanism. It is an alarm whose job is to guard and alert you to danger. Despite all the inconveniences that came with it, it actually never intended to intrude. It was just being misguided so it made unnecessary noise. Re-educate and control it, and it will soon return to its true function, as a good friend who is always ready to help you.
