Panic Attacks How to Deal With Panic

Panic Attacks

How to Deal with Panic Attacks: a Process Essay

Panic attacks can happen to almost anyone but especially to those who have difficulty dealing with stressful situations. When a panic attack first hits, it can be confused for a nervous breakdown or even a heart attack. It can stifle one's breath, cause trembling, fear, chest pain, the sensation of being trapped, nausea, and tunnel vision. There are many theories on how to deal with and/or prevent panic attacks, and researchers have pointed to causes ranging from heredity to character and the lack of self-assertiveness. This paper will detail the process by which one can prevent and/or overcome panic attacks altogether by concentrating on three primary points that have been shown to be related to the onset of panic attacks: first -- the use of nicotine and caffeine; second -- thoughts and feelings that fail to find expression; and third -- lack of exercise.

Firstly, it is important to realize that the maintenance of one's health is of primary importance. Panic attacks are the body's way of letting us know that we are doing something that is not good for it. Just as a car will react violently when one of its parts is going bad, so too will the body. The way we treat our body, therefore, should always be taken under our consideration. One of the ways in which we can help prevent panic attacks is to keep our bodies from becoming dependent on substances like nicotine and caffeine. Both nicotine and caffeine can have serious effects on the body's health and both can wire the body and provoke anxiety. Some suggest that smoking actually helps calm the body and is therefore good for reducing the body's inclination to panic. The actuality, however, is that the deep breathing that a smoker does when inhaling is what helps calm the body. Deep breathing is actually a soothing exercise -- which is the reason doctors recommend breathing into a paper bag to prevent or help subdue the onset of panic attacks. Breathing is a calming and meditative exercise: it allows the body to relax and the heart to calm down. Smoking may allow an individual to practice inhaling deeply -- but the nicotine can add a level of stress on the lungs and the heart, which will act adversely to the breathing being done. Practicing breathing and steadying one's pace in life is a better and much healthier alternative to smoking in the prevention of panic attacks.

Secondly, the inability to express one's thoughts and feelings has been linked to panic attacks. Bottling things up, as they say, is never a good idea -- at some point the lid will blow, and what happens is similar to the cap being taken off a shaken bottle of soda. To avoid explosion, it is advised that one reduce one's level of passivity and take a more assertive route in dealing with reality. Those who fail to assert themselves in a healthy way only add undue stress on their body. Self-assertion in communication is a normal way to keep the body cool. To be able to assert oneself requires, of course, a certain amount of self-knowledge and confidence. Gaining both of these through introspection and the exercise of one's voice in expression and in action can lead to a more healthy lifestyle. Self-assertion techniques can range from the way in which we use and/or project our voice to the command with which we exercise authority over our own nature. Assertion is a way in which we can control and/or manage situations, instead of letting situations manage us. By failing to realize one's potential and/or self-worth, one pushes the body more and more to a state of panic -- because forced passivity is, essentially, unnatural.