| When looking for Panic Attack Treatments it's a | | | | panic. |
| common mistake to think of the problem as a mental | | | | Not a "mental health" issue |
| health issue. | | | | The next was to understand that, while it's hard to |
| The good news is that treating panic attacks | | | | believe, panic attacks are a natural response to events |
| successfully is about calming down an overactive mind | | | | in our lives and I wasn't going mad. Panic attacks |
| and not about mental health. They can be cured in a | | | | happen when the body's "fight or flight" mechanism is |
| matter of hours and certainly don't require months of | | | | triggered. Usually a person's first attack is caused by |
| therapy. | | | | something particularly stressful or during a particularly |
| To understand why let's get a better understanding of | | | | stressful period in their life. |
| what panic attacks are. That way the treatment will | | | | The problem is that the sub-conscious mind has |
| make more sense. | | | | overreacted to a perceived threat. It triggers the "fight |
| Two important realizations | | | | or flight" mechanism to protect us. In the past this might |
| I'd like to share with you a couple of things that helped | | | | have helped us escape from a saber toothed tiger. |
| me on the road to curing my own panic attacks. | | | | Unfortunately, our minds aren't good at telling the |
| The first was realizing that I wasn't alone - that in fact | | | | difference between a build up of day to day stress in |
| there are many other sufferers. The second was | | | | our lives and a life or death situation. |
| realizing that having panic attacks did not mean that I | | | | Once a person has had one panic attack another is |
| was going crazy (even though sometimes that's just | | | | more likely, as the mind may react to "triggers" that |
| what it felt like). One of the most awful things about | | | | remind them of the original attack. |
| panic attacks is feeling out of control. I often felt very | | | | For example, your first attack might have happened |
| dizzy and worried I might faint. And my breathing | | | | while driving. It wasn't necessarily the driving that was |
| would get tight and my heart would race, which made | | | | the real cause - more likely the stress had been |
| me fear I'd have a heart attack - of course this made | | | | building for some time and something that happened |
| things worse. | | | | while you were driving was just the final straw. But |
| Not being able to control the attacks made them all the | | | | your mind remembers that you were driving when the |
| more worrying. When would the next one come? | | | | attack happened and links the two. |
| Where would I be? Would I be able to cope? These | | | | Now driving has become a "trigger" for the next |
| worries helped make the next attack a self-fulfilling | | | | attack. |
| prophecy. | | | | Panic attack treatments |
| I began to feel that there must really be something | | | | Being aware of this certainly helped, but what really |
| wrong with me. Everyone else could get on with their | | | | turned things around for me was discovering a |
| lives, but not me. Perhaps I really was a bit crazy? | | | | treatment that broke this cycle of attacks. The |
| 1 in 20 | | | | amazing thing is that the treatment is so simple. It |
| The reality is that around 1 person in 20 suffers panic | | | | interrupts the "fight or flight" hijacking of your brain |
| attacks (National Institute of Mental Health figures). This | | | | while it is actually happening, which immediately puts |
| may even be an underestimate, because lots of | | | | you back in control. |
| people either don't get properly diagnosed or don't | | | | Within a few days I was able to use the technique to |
| seek treatment. It helped just to know that I wasn't | | | | stop panic attacks before they even began. |
| alone, but that was only a first step to treating my | | | | |