Question:
stopping a panic attack ?
Answer:
the first time i stopped a
panic attack i was in a
grocery store.it hit hard
and fast.i went to the mens
room and turned on yhe sink
faucet.the water was ice
cold.i cupped my hands and
scouped up the water onto
my face and above the
hairline.within 30 seconds
the panic attack was gone
and i felt good!
I have found many useful little techniques for putting the brakes on
an attack. The idea is to bring about a sudden *change of focus*.
Besides icy water, one can try snapping a rubber-band on the wrist,
shouting out loud, talking rudely and crudely back to the panic
monster (need not be out loud) or flipping on a radio at high
volume. The rubber-band works best for me. Sometimes I threaten
the panic monster with it. Panic does not like interruptions! :)
Incidentally, the cold water splash is also very useful for racing
heartbeat and palpitations. A cardiologist told me about this once
and it actually works most of the time for me.
your suggestions are actually the opposite of
what I was taught in CBT a few years ago. We were told that
distractions were merely crutches and would never really help us
overcome panic attacks. As one of these crutches started to become
ineffective, we would only continue to add more and more of them.
Instead, we were taught to continuously and enthusiatically encourage
the onset of panic attacks in our thought process. And, when we did
have a panic attack to hope it was the worst one we ever had.
Since my panic attacks primarily came when I drove, needless to say I
was scared to death to do this at first. It took a couple of months to
wean me off all the "crutches" I had built up--blasting the radio,
turning on the air conditioning, carrying bottled water, etc. And, I
found it literally impossible to will on a panic attack. In fact, their
frequency decreased dramatically. When one did occur, I was able to
mentally handle it without aids.
Strangely, this approach (in addition to several months of training to
restructure our thinking patterns) did help everyone in the class regain
control of their lives. Unfortunately, it was not a cure for PA's.
