Panic Attack The feelings of fear that you experience during a panic attack are caused by the release of adrenaline in your body when your brain mistakenly responds to a situation that is not real. There is no real danger; no exploding bomb or wild animal. Adrenaline is there to help you either face danger or run from it. It cannot make you pass out and it will not kill you. You must reassure yourself of this fact. Nobody has died from the normal levels of adrenaline that your body produces. In normal circumstances, it is there to help you. Some people go out of their way and spend time and money to get that same feeling. They jump out of aeroplanes, go on roller coaster rides or do extreme sports. Understand the effects of a panic/anxiety attack. The symptoms listed below are the same as the effects of adrenaline. The Disassociation Technique The next time you experience a panic attack try to observe it and experience it as if you were a scientist doing research and note everything that happens to you in the order that it happens. Perhaps you can write it down as it happens. It is not pleasant but persevere; observe it and understand it. The idea is to time the anxiety attack and to measure it's severity. It will probably last about 10 minutes so keep a track of the time, minute by minute. Give the symptoms you are experiencing an intensity on the scale of 1 (very relaxed) to 10 (full panic) This has a number of effects 1. The mental process uses a different area of the brain (neo cortex), rather than the fear centre (amygdala). The conscious mind can really only focus effectively on one task at a time and the simple arithmetic you are doing will force out the anxiety attack. 2. You are defining limits to the attack so you become aware that it is not going to go on forever or become infinitely intense. This reduces the threat. 3. You become less associated to the anxiety attack and more an observer. You distance yourself from it. You will find that as you use this technique the duration and intensity will reduce over time. Panic Attack Symptoms - Rapid heart beat,
- Pounding heart or palpitations
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Sweating
- Shaking or trembling
- Choking sensations/lump in the throat
- Smothering or shortness of breath sensations
- Nausea, bloating, indigestion or abdominal discomfort
- Dizziness or unsteadiness
- Feeling light-headed
- Out of body feeling (dreamy, floating sensations)
- Disassociation (feeling outside yourself or like you don't exist)
- Fear of losing control or going crazy
- Numbness or tingling sensations often in fingers and toes
- Chills or hot flushes
- Pale skin as blood drains away
- Blushing or blotches on the skin
- Urgently need to urinate or defecate
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