How to Treat Panic Attacks Naturally

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Treating Panic Attacks is about calming down an overactive mind and is not always a "mental health" issue. Because of this Panic Attacks can be cured naturally and within a matter of hours, without the use of drugs or months of therapy. Here we explain how.

Steps

1. Know what constitutes a panic attack. One of the most awful things about panic attacks is feeling out of control. Symptoms include feeling dizzy, feeling that you may faint, tightness and difficultly breathing and a racing heart. Often people worry that they may be having a heart attack – which of course just makes things worse.
   • Not being able to control the attacks makes them all the more worrying. When will the next one come? Where will you be? Will you be able to cope? These worries can help make the next attack a self-fulfilling prophecy. Panic attack sufferers often feel that there must really be something wrong with them. Everyone else can get on with their lives, but not them. Some worry they are going a bit crazy.
2. Know that you're not alone. The reality is that around 1 person in 20 suffers panic attacks (National Institute of Mental Health figures). This may even be an underestimate, because lots of people either don’t get properly diagnosed or don’t seek treatment.
   • It's often a great help just to know that you're not alone, but that is only a first step to treating panic.
3. Understand 'Fight or Flight'. Panic attacks are the result of the body’s “fight or flight” mechanism being triggered. Usually a person’s first panic attack is caused by something particularly stressful or during a particularly stressful period in their life.
   • The problem is that the sub-conscious mind has overreacted to a perceived threat. It triggers the “fight or flight” mechanism to protect us. In the past this might have helped us escape from a saber toothed tiger. Unfortunately, our minds aren’t good at telling the difference between a build up of day to day stress in our lives and a life or death situation.
4. Be aware of triggers. And once a person has had one panic attack another is more likely, as the mind may react to “triggers” that remind them of the original attack. For example, your first attack might have happened while driving. It wasn’t necessarily the driving that was the real cause – more likely the stress had been building for some time. But your mind remembers that you were driving when the attack happened and links the two. Now driving has become a “trigger” for the next attack.
5. Engage with the panic attack rather than trying to fight it. This may sound counter intuitive, but it works!
6. Remember that a panic attack is a reaction to a "perceived" threat. The reality is that we are not actually in danger even though we think, feel and act like we are.
   • Once you realize that there is no "real" danger you can then focus on the experience you are having. Instead of feeling terrified become an objective observer of what you are feeling. Notice the feelings and sensations as they wash over you. By "observing" instead of "fighting" these feelings you reduce rather than increase the level of stress and conflict in your mind.
7. Observe. The process of observing is crucial because what it does is engages your rational mind. Normally during a panic attack the emotional mind takes over and controls you until the symptoms have run their course. The rational mind is nowhere to be found!
8. By turning yourself into an objective observer you allow your rational mind to function. It's very difficult for the emotional mind to dominate if you are thinking rationally, so what happens is that the panic attack symptoms will start to fade away.
   • This allows you to overcome the panic attack quickly and naturally. As soon as you realize you can do this your chances of another attack are immediately reduced, because you know you have a new ability to control them. And quickly, often within a few days, this observation technique will allow you to stop a panic attack before it has even begun!

Tips

• Practice relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation, and learn how to control your breathing.

Related wikiHows

• How to Cope With Panic Attacks
• How to Deal With Anxiety and Panic Attacks
• How to Spot Anxiety Attacks
• How to Get Through the Day With Social Anxiety

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