Reset the System: Understanding and Coping with Panic Attacks

Technological advances that have made the internet an accessible tool to search and share information through have led to the open sharing of knowledge, ideas, media, and many other things. Today, the internet serves a significant role in education and making medical and scientific findings available to the general public. Therefore, it is a great resource for learning  about mental health problems. Over the past few years, mental health problems have become a hot topic frequently discussed and joked about among young people in an attempt to find a community of people who relate to or understand the symptoms of some of these disorders. Nevertheless, discussions of mental health problems tend to focus on symptomatology, and rarely provide insight into coping strategies or treatment. So, how can people deal with stressful events in a healthy way, and what should they do if those events cause a full-blown panic attack?

Understanding what a panic attack feels like is limited if one has never experienced a panic attack before. Additionally, if one has experienced and dealt with high levels of stress and fear before, it is easy to believe that dealing with a panic attack may be easy. However, panic attacks come with physical symptoms that occur unexpectedly and may be misinterpreted as other serious medical issues, such as a heart attack. With this in mind and with the understanding that around 11% of people in the United States experience a panic attack every year, it is important to know different coping strategies that can be utilized when dealing  with stressful events and panic attacks (Clinic, 2023).

What are Panic Attacks? Panic attacks are sudden, short periods of intense fear or anxiety with strong physical reactions that reach a peak within minutes.

Physical Symptoms:

• Tingling hands/feet
• Shortness of breath or hyperventilation
• Faint or dizzy
• Sweating
• Racing heart
• Trembling
• Chest pain
• Choking feeling
• Hot and cold flashes
• Nausea
  
  

Psychological Symptoms:

• Intense terror
• Fear of dying
• Fear of losing control
• Feeling of unreality
• Confusion

Coping Strategies:
The following coping strategies can help manage the immediate emotional and physiological arousal from panic attacks, and can also help manage daily stress. Thus, practicing these, even if you do not suffer from panic attacks, can be helpful.

1. Deep Breathing Exercises
   Sit or stand with good posture and close your eyes.
   Breathe in through your nose and let your belly, then the upper part of your lungs, fill in with air, and feel your chest rise.
   Hold your breath for a few seconds.
   Exhale through your mouth.
   Repeat a few times until you feel better.
2. Muscle Relaxation
   Muscle tension typically prepares the body for action, but constant muscle tension may increase anxiety and cause pain.
   Muscle relaxation exercises involve tensing muscles in each major muscle group for around ten seconds and then relaxing them for 20 seconds.
   The muscle groups that one should focus on are the following: lower arms, upper arms, lower legs, upper legs, abdomen, chest, shoulders, neck, mouth, jaw,  throat, eyes, lower forehead, and upper forehead.
3. Distraction Techniques
   Distraction techniques can help people stop their negative thoughts or remove focus from the physical sensations they are experiencing. Moreover, they can help people realize they still have some control over their bodies. Some techniques include: Focusing on an object and describing it in detail and The 5-4-3-2-1 method- naming five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste.

Treatments and Preventative Measures:
1. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy addresses negative ways of thinking or behaving that may contribute to mental illness. It includes:

• Psychoeducation
• Cognitive restructuring: to encourage reappraisal and fix distorted ways of thinking
• Relaxation and coping techniques- such as the ones mentioned above
• Mindfulness
• Exposure treatment

2. Biofeedback Methods
   Biofeedback methods train people to control physiological processes to have more control over their bodies and arousal levels, which can help prevent panic attacks.
   
   
3. Exercise
   Exercise can help manage stress levels, improve mood, and relieve tension. Aerobic exercises are beneficial because they increase oxygen intake and increase heart rate.
   
   

Disorders that Involve Panic Attacks:

1. Panic Disorder
   People who suffer from panic disorders have repeated and unexpected panic attacks with no apparent reason. Sufferers spend at least a month worrying about the attacks or behaving in dysfunctional ways due to the attacks, such as avoiding places or things they think might trigger an attack.
2. Agoraphobia
   Agoraphobia is characterized as a disorder in which people fear going to places or being in situations where escaping might be difficult. Agoraphobia tends to be comorbid with panic disorder, so people usually experience panic attacks if they do not feel safe.
   
   

Please note that although panic attacks are more common in people who suffer from anxiety disorders or disorders related to anxiety and stress, they can be experienced by people without mental illness.

References
Clinic, C. (2023).Panic Attacks & Panic Disorder: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment. Cleveland Clinic.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4451-panic-attack-panic-disorder

How to deal with panic attacks. (2023). Nhsinform.scot. https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy- living/mental-wellbeing/anxiety-and-panic/how-to-deal-with-panic- attacks#:~:text=breathe%20in%20as%20slowly%2C%20deeply,and%20focus%2 0on%20your%20breathing

Karaaslan, C., & Çakmak Tolan, Ö. (2021). Cognitive behavioral therapy implementations and techniques in panic disorder: A review. Journal of Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy and Research, 10(2), 245–255.