Panic Attack or Anxiety

[Aka]

I try my best to accept the anxiety as it emerges, relax my body and mind, and rethink positively. It really depends on what kind of day it is if it works. The thing is just not getting caught up and reacting stressed in reaction because that just makes it worse which I have done in the past. I've actually been seeing a really great therapist once in awhile who really helped me get back on track and honestly live my life better. Also she opened my eyes to see that really everyone deals with a certain level of anxiety because it's normal. Though some may suffer of it due to worse conditions, in the end it's all how the individual takes it in stride. Some people may decide they need meds, but others like myself more often than not it's about reconfiguring the thought process. I'm honestly glad I did decide to seek someone for help. I encourage anyone who has been trying to do it alone to give therapy a try a few times. It can work.

I also recommend this book The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety. It has a gentle, ACT approach which treats anxiety as it should be - totally normal, and despite it life should be lived

 

[PointingCapaldi]

I also have these but never fear, there's always a way to handle them. It does not go for everybody but these are some things that I and a lot of people do to calm ourselves.

1. Breathing exercises that will help you calm down. As one user mentioned earlier, breathing from the diaphragm.
2. Listen to some calming music that will take your mind off of the problem, your chest, and your heart rate. When I'm having an anxiety attack I would play this with my noise cancelling headphones.

3. Count backwards from 30, but say the numbers really slow and prolong the vowels. You can do this while closing your eyes or having them open, all depends on you.
4. Walk outside (if possible), breathe, and zone out. (This works for a handful of people, particularly those that can space out easily)
5. Gesture and touch: Choose a hand. Now, have the tips of your 5 fingers touch, creating some sort of gesture of picking up a dash of sand with your fingertips. Now, place the tips on the palm of your other hand and slowly spread them out, as if a flower is blooming. You may do this as many times as you want and you can also combine this with another method like counting down. Again, it all depends on you
6. If it's really bad and you have your medication, please do take it as prescribed.

There are many more techniques but it's best to experiment (a controlled experiment) on what you're most comfortable doing so that when it occurs unexpectedly, you'll know what to do. If you have a solution but requires you to be home, always have a back up plan in which it can be implemented anywhere. Good luck!

 

[D.Va]

If any of you have/had them what do you do to calm yourself because I'm getting anxious a lot lately for little reason. I try to take deep breaths and it goes away for a few minutes and back again...

My anxiety has been horrible for the last month and a half or so for a number of reasons...finances, grades, finals, school (I'm transferring schools and the only person who seems to want to help me is me), my boyfriend leaving for K-9 training in San Antonio, etc. It got to the point where I was having anxiety attacks every night for a week. I started to keep a journal of my triggers, which really helps. If you can narrow your triggers down, you can begin to anticipate them. I've found that trying to prevent them only makes it worse, but if I know it's coming I can prepare myself and it sucks considerably less.

Anxiety is terrible, but if you learn your triggers it can be much easier to live with.