This is the fourth video in my series on panic attacks. Ideally you need to watch
the others first so if you haven't then I recommend you click on the link appearing at
the top of the screen now. However this video deals with how to neutralize a panic attack.
There is no magic way to instantly stop a panic attack but it is possible to reduce the severity
and duration of panic attacks. In the last video you learned how safety behaviors increase the
likelihood of panic attacks in the long term. But your behaviors during a panic attack can also make
the panic attack more severe and prolonged. Common things people do during a panic attack
is bring their hands to their face, chest or neck, tense their arms or hold on to something tightly.
You may also tense your legs because they may feel wobbly.
You may try to rapidly leave your location or call for help. Some people go into the foetal position.
Some of these things would be a good idea if you were attacked by a tiger.
Bringing your arms up to protect your face chest or neck or going into a foetal position
will make it harder for the tiger to bite vital organs. But there are a few problems here. Firstly
there is no tiger. Secondly you look like you are in danger. As you learned in the last video
your hippocampus reacts to your behaviors so it notices what you are doing and signals the
amygdala to release more stress hormones which speeds up your heart and breathing and causes all
the other scary symptoms that we talked about in video 2. Your amygdala doesn't care whether it's a
panic attack or a tiger attack, it responds in the same way. And thirdly tensing muscles, curling up,
rocking bringing hands to the face, all make it harder to breathe which will make you panic more.
So you get into a cycle. You feel panic attack symptoms so you employ your safety behaviors,
like tensing, bringing your hands to your face, trying to control your breathing,
checking your pulse, searching for escape routes and so on. These danger signs cause
the amygdala to release more stress hormones making your heart rate and breathing even faster.
So your panic gets worse. So you tense more
and try frantically to be rescued and the cycle goes round and round. The panic gets worse and
the duration of the panic attack is prolonged. So how do you stop this cycle. Well it's difficult,
very difficult but you need your behaviors to signal to your hippocampus and amygdala
that there is no danger. So drop your hands loosely to your side. Check your body for tension
starting with the face. Is it screwed up? Relax your face. Are your shoulders hunched?
If so, just let them slump. Is there tension in your arms. Are you holding on to anything tightly?
If so, just let go or just hold it loosely. Are your legs locked? If so, relax them.
If your mind is racing bring your attention to your feet. Notice the feeling where your feet make
contact with the ground. Imagine the anxiety is going to flow from the top of your body,
down your body into the ground and away but it can only do this if the path is not blocked.
So check your body again from top to bottom and make sure nothing is tensed.
My next suggestion may sound crazy but I want you to smile.
Think about it though. If you were being attacked by a tiger would you smile? No of course not.
So if you're smiling there can't be a danger. This will help calm the hippocampus and the amygdala.
Be patient. Because your mind races during a panic attack it can feel like a very long time
but it's often just minutes. Keep using your body to show your mind that there is no danger
and the panic attack will gradually subside. I have timed people having panic attacks with
or without this technique and I have seen this technique cut the duration in half.
As I said this is not easy and takes a lot of practice so don't just try once and give up.
Come back to this video to remind yourself what to do if you start to feel panicky. It can be
hard if your panic attacks are very frequent so it's important to try to reduce the frequency
of the panic attacks. I'm going to show you how to start doing that in the next video
so click on the link to the next video which should be appearing about now.