Question:
I just had my first panic attack a few days ago and now I almost had
another. I just found out that my father has also suffered from panic
attacks all his life. He controls his by taking medications.
Is there a way to control them mentally without medications?
Answer:
check out alt.support.anxiety-panic
It's a good group in which I participate as well.
Their are many books available on panic treatment-check out the author
Claire Weeks-she is dated,but still has good ideas.
Just because you've had one panic attack doesn't necessarily mean
you'll have another one. Lots of folk experience the occasional one,
but only about 5% of the population develop Panic Disorder.
However, if there is a family history of it then the odds do
increase.
Medications are effective for only about 70%. Cognitive Behaviour
Therapy is claimed to be just as effective. You'll find a great deal
of information about CBT here: www.cognitivetherapy.com/
The reality is that some people do require medication to enable them
to control their anxiety disorder and lead a fulfilling life. I can
understand your wish to avoid drugs, but if we were talking about
some other illness such as say, Parkinsons disease, epilepsy, MS,
cancer etc, would that be a factor?
Sure, you can trigger an attack by just thinking about it, or by
anticipating you'll have an attack in a certain place or situation -
often in circumstances that have previously triggered one.
However, this doesn't mean that PD is a purely mental thing. There
is a great deal of evidence that most anxiety disorders have a big
organic component.
Here's something that worked wonders for me. It will seem too
simple, but try it anyway:
Breathe abdominally.
Note that this is not quite the same thing as saying "breathe
deeply" or "breathe slowly". Place one hand on your chest,
and the other on your abdomen (just below your navel). Try
to breathe in such a way that only the hand on your abdomen
moves up and down.
Put another way: breathe the way a cat breathes when it is
sleeping!
The volume of air involved isn't important - it doesn't have
to be a "deep" breath. Just make sure it's abdominal, and
reasonably slow.
Why this works: during a panic attack, the body's natural
tendency is to breathe shallowly and rapidly, in the upper
part of the chest. This tends to increase blood oxygen levels,
and starts the "fight or flight" response in which heart beat
speeds up, adrenaline is released, and so forth. By breathing
abdominally, the body can start to reverse this pattern.
Even better: take 20 minutes each day in a quiet room and just
practice breathing abdominally while relaxing all your muscles.
The body can learn to remember what this "relaxation response"
feels like and you can use the abdominal breathing to trigger
a relaxation response when you feel panic starting to build.
