Coping with Anxiety Attacks

People afflicted with anxiety attacks usually experience symptoms, like shortness of breath, pounding of heart, dizziness, and stomach issues which are all associated with anxiety. Many people, however, especially those who are not familiar with panic attacks, are not aware that it is a very personal matter. The people who are coping with anxiety attacks normally worry about an irrational fear, which they are aware, but they seemed to have no control over it. Consequently, they end up being ashamed of their condition upon realizing that it has affected much of their lives. It is because of this that many of them fail to seek professional help. But for people willing to be helped, there are actually many different ways of getting treatment for coping with anxiety and panic.

Many experts concur that a blend of cognitive and behavioral therapies can be an effective way of helping people who are afflicted with panic disorders. In fact, a person can actually find help by being properly informed on what a panic disorder is all about. Cognitive therapy aims at changing the panic sufferers’ way of thinking: that they are not going to be crazy. The aim is to properly inform them that heart attack and death are not going to happen. The primary purpose of cognitive therapy is to help panic sufferers transform negatives thoughts into positive ones.

The primary concern of behavioral therapy is to expose the actual physical sensation that people experience when coping with anxiety attacks. Most of them are not actually afraid of the experience or object, they are all the more afraid of the attack itself. A concrete example of this is when they attend a social gathering. Many of them are not really afraid of the people, but they are more afraid of having an attack while attending the gathering. Behavioral therapy aims at allowing panic attack sufferers to experience the symptoms of anxiety attacks in a controlled environment and allow them to realize that mere symptoms do not always become full blown panic attacks. Behavioral therapy may allow panic attack sufferers to undertake minor and manageable steps in order to conquer their fear. By using the social setting, they may be asked to just sit inside the car before going to the party. The purpose of this is so that they may be able to deal with their feelings and emotions inside the car. This helps them refocus their attention to other things instead of worrying about the upcoming social encounter. Everybody goes through this process at their own pace. Depending on their need, they will be asked to do activities that will help them cope with panic attacks, like staying in the car for ten minutes before going to the party or asking them to go to the party so that it will be easy for them to handle the attacks in the future.

Another important factor that positively helped people with anxiety attacks is proper medication. However, proper medication is limited only at controlling the symptoms associated with panic attacks, but it can reduce the number of anxiety attacks including its severity. It also reduces the constant fear and anxiety of having another panic attack. Aside from medication, there are also techniques employed in dealing with panic attacks, like breathing exercises and positive visualization. Support groups can also help people coping with anxiety on how to handle their situation positively.

Panic attack is said to be a private thing. In fact, majority of the people are not aware that others are suffering from panic attacks. Understanding social phobia help people who are afflicted with panic disorders to begin the journey of treatment and recovery.

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