How To Calm Down From A Panic Attack : Foundations of Panic #3 (Podcast Ep 282)
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- čas přidán 20. 07. 2024
- How To Calm Down From A Panic Attack: Embracing an Unconventional Path
Video Highlights:
1. The Standard Approach Unmasked: Explore the commonly advised techniques for how to calm down from a panic attack and why they often fall short or cause more problems for people that have developed chronic panic-related anxiety issues.
2. The Unexpected Power of Acceptance: Discover the counterintuitive approach of embracing panic rather than resisting it.
3. The Biology of Panic: Delve into the workings of the body during a panic attack and how understanding the mechanics can reshape your understanding of how to calm down from a panic attack.
4. Redefining Calmness Through Surrender: Uncover the liberating concept of finding calmness not through force but by surrendering to the present moment and navigating through panic.
5. The Liberation of Not Trying So Hard: Realize the surprising sense of freedom that comes with loosening the grip on the need to control every aspect of a panic attack.
6. Navigating the Emotional Landscape: Acknowledge the emotions that accompany panic attacks and learn how to navigate them with curiosity and compassion.
7. Inviting Curiosity and Compassion: Wrap up the journey by inviting you to approach panic attacks with curiosity and self-compassion.
Join the Discussion:
Share your thoughts, questions, experiences, and insights in the comments below.
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Full show notes for this episode:
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I’ve forgotten and abandoned this concept recently. But I do remember practicing this and feeling so super heroish when it worked. Best way I could do it is to just proceed as u were prior to the panic. This is really hard to do as you are driving but what I’d do is pull over at the next safe place to do so and just sit there with it. Don’t retreat while your scared bc then you’ll not be panicky when u get back and your brain will think you’re right. Just stay where u are and let it pass. And even if you do decide to still go back home the drive back should be already calm and not racing to get back. Even that is a win. At least I think so lol
The "abandonment" of the concept is really just your overactive amygdala chiming in to insist that avoiding and retreating is the safer bet. It happens to almost everyone at some point so don't judge yourself harshly for that. Its super common. You seem to understand the situation quite well though so you're in a good spot to change direction again toward where you want to go. Heck, this whole comment is a win! :-)
Face, accept, floating and letting time pass. Utter utter ( but really utter ) acceptance 👍🙏
I can hear her saying that in her voice!
This too will pass.
True! The idea that all experiences are transient is central in theories of treatment and recovery that are quite effective.
I LOVE and really appreciate your videos. Thanks, you're like a mentor to me.
Awww those are very kind words. Thank you. I'm glad I'm able to be helpful in some way!
Thanks for going over some of this for the newer peeps, as it's also a good refresher for those days where things feel like they are in reverse..
You're very welcome. I'm glad these are helpful in some way.
Hey drew I just wanted to say thank you so much, I’m only 17 and I had a lot of anxiety growing up but it went away for a couple of years but as of a few months ago it came back and I don’t know what I would do without your podcast, strategies, and books. I can go on and on about how you’ve helped me but one question I have that gives me a lot of anxiety is death and not feeling real (depersonalization). I know you posted a podcast about death and to not worry because it’s not happening yet, and a podcast about disassociation problems, but I can’t wrap my head around the fact that there is a time where I didn’t exist and i time where I won’t exist, and also if the people around me exist and it makes me extremely nervous because not knowing if the people around me are truly real and the fact that I never will makes me extremely scared.
You're throwing out concepts here that have no answers or solutions. Since they have no answers or solutions, an anxious mind will call them urgently important and will insist that ONLY a definitive answer and perfect clarification will get the job done. But ... none exists. You can stop trying to "wrap your head around" the concepts. Instead, work on getting more comfortable navigating through that state of not knowing. Wrap your head around the idea that you can't wrap your head around the ideas. If that makes sense.
@@TheAnxiousTruth This is true, thank for you the response. I get what you’re saying it’s just very difficult to do.
Thanks Drew for your consistently good work.
Happy new year from down under!
Thanks Carolyn! Happy new year right back atcha! :-)
I'm so damn proud of you, my friend!
Diane! Thank you my friend. I appreciate the support and its always lovely to see you and hear from you. :-)
Hi Drew, I just found your channel and really enjoyed this video! My biggest symptom is the “dropping” feeling every few seconds in my stomach, which I can’t seem to control…recently I have been trying to ride the feeling out and have been doing a little bit better, but the feeling doesn’t stop unless I take medication. How can I fight a physical feeling that won’t stop?
Welcome! If you just found the channel, keep watching and listening. Maybe consider one of my books. You'll find that I never talk about how to make sensations and symptoms stop. Even the ones we hate - we learn to allow without insisting that we need special evasive or protective action in response. I NEVER talk about "fighting" anything here. We win this war when we stop fighting it.
Love the intro music!
Yeah I dig it too. Not bad for stock royalty free music, right? :-)
Hi Drew, What do you when your blood pressure sky rockets during a panic attack and lingers high a day or two after? How do you accept that without freaking out? I don't know how to be passive with it since in my brain this is medically dangerous. I love your podcast by the way.
And why do you know your blood pressure is high after the panic attack? Do you have a medical need to monitor that and have you been instructed to do that? Or is that part of "freaking out", where you decide that taking your BP to check is a good move? That's important. I know your specific fear insists that your BP is special and needs special instructions but it does not. Someone that feels dizzy will insist that there is no way to accept dizziness. Someone with a rapid heartbeat will insist that there is no way to accept that. Both will say because that particular fear is REAL and actually dangerous. See where this is going?
i had panic attacks that lasted 2 hours
Undulating panic (panic that comes in waves) is something I specifically mentioned and acknowledged in the episode. We'll definitely talk more about that down the road. Its a common experience that many have.
@@TheAnxiousTruth Can the physical symptoms last for days? My heart is beating fast and it feels like it will never go back to normal. I even feel it when I am dreaming at night and can’t truly rest. I’m not panicking anymore but I start to think that this won’t go away which makes the anxiety worse.
@@TheAnxiousTruthAs you know it’s not that an attack lasting longer than an hour, it’s a series of attacks chained due to consecutive adrenaline dumps via hypervigilance
I suffer from panic attacks and although I haven’t been diagnosed with panic disorder, I’m 100% sure I have it. I’ve been struggling with horrible nocturnal attacks, and I mean horrible…but after months I started managing them, they would come, peak, and go…and I would fall asleep because they made me really tired. I wasn’t afraid anymore even if they continued to be scary. I’ve been struggling with nocturnal anxiety for many months now. But this week I started having panic attacks in the day…and now I don’t know how to handle those. So I have to start all over again.
It's not really starting over. You clearly identified that nocturnal panic attacks are scary but that you learned that you do not have to treat them like emergencies. Good job! So ask yourself why a panic attack in the daytime is different? Apply the same principles and you may find that it doesn't really feel like "starting from scratch."
@@TheAnxiousTruth thank you. It’s just really hard when you are doing it alone and can’t get professional help. CZcams has become my therapist.
I know you “recovered” from antidepressant drug withdrawal, so my question is this: do you think it’s possible to get beyond the seemingly “chemical” anxiety and depression with typical anxiety exposures or is time more of an answer (in withdrawal)? I constantly use every CBT tool one can think of, but the physical symptoms never seem to abate. I always suggest that others practice exposures and trying to just live life with the fear, but the post-withdrawal symptoms (akasthesia, severe pain, terror, etc.) seem so much worse than the anxiety the drugs were originally prescribed for. Apologies for asking about drugs.
This is not a topic I tend to engage with. Why? Because for every person that says its possible to recover without interacting with or worrying about brain chemistry, another person will insist that brain chemistry is the problem and must be addressed. I cannot end that debate, nor do I wish to because its not my place to end that debate for any individual, or for the world at large.Even if I wanted to end the debate for you personally, could I? Would your brain actually accept my answer as final and trust it? I suspect - having been in your shoes - that it will not. So in the end I just bring another confusing voice rather than actually helping.
@@TheAnxiousTruth thanks for your thoughtful reply. I recommend your books/channel/pods to many others in Benzo/ad withdrawal because I find your methods more helpful than useless rumination. Many say they can’t get beyond the physical symptoms yet. I suppose it’s just a matter of time, but I believe it’s best to learn to face one’s fears BEFORE the withdrawal symptoms die down. Love your pods!
❤
thanks drew!
You're quite welcome! :-)
What if you have 24/7 no sleep many panic attacks at night tried to lay theiugh them and stay in bed but hasnt helped at all and all day im terrifed of my symtoms
First ask what you mean by "it hasn't helped". The primary target I'm always talking/teaching about is learning that a panic attack is not something you have to control or stop. The win is moving through a panic attack - even at night. Are you working on allowing them and moving through them to learn that lesson, or are you trying to find ways to stop them when they happen or keep them from happening? I can't know for sure what's happening with you because its the Internet and we don't know each other, but that's the first question I tend to ask because its the most common issue behind this question when it gets asked.
Hi Drew! I don't think my panic attacks end. Until and unless I end up at the ER and they inject me with something.
Undulating panic is what happens when you stay in OMG! mode until something external "saves" you. Even then, you are likely experiencing peaks and valleys of panic when your body just exhausts itself. Never totally calm though. And even in those moments, likely highly alert and on guard to see if its coming back. Is this sounding familiar?
@@TheAnxiousTruth yes!!! And it's not so simple to surrender to it.
You'll never hear me say that its easy. I actually spend a ton of time talking about how difficult this is because it requires courage, especially at the start. Simple, yes. Easy? No way! But when we can see that we actually participate in the process of building "never ending panic" that gives us a new path to consider. It changes panic from a thing that just happens to us into a thing that happens that we interact with. VERY different.
I found contradictory one of you episodes in your book, when you say to take it slow when it comes to anticipatory anxiety and then you say to schedule exposures so you expose to anticipatory anxiety😂😅 😂😂😂😂
You mentioned that already, and I responded. I even left the comment for everyone to see, like I will leave this one. But if the content isn't working for you, the better move would be to decide that I'm wrong (or wrong for you), and walk away. Go leave a bad review for my book on Amazon. Or leave a bad review for the podcast on Apple or Spotify. I'm cool with that. You said what you think. I acknowledged it. I'll always be honest about what you can expect from me. So now its for you time to decide what comes next for you and is in your best interest because going forward you can expect me to not engage repeatedly with this kind of thing.
I hope you find the reframe helpful and applicable! Hang in there.
The problem with mine is that i throw up almost every time. So its stressful because i cant eat and makes it hard to go to work
I'm the same. Can't eat or cook. Feel hungry but the sickness is bad. It's hell on earth
@@antheajohnson7020 quick update. I have been dealing with this for about a year now. Curious if it was ptsd from an attempted suicide i saw at work or just stressful conditions causing anxiety (correctional officer) but either way i am 2 weeks on Zoloft (sertraline) and i can finally eat again. I dont have the constant nausea anymore and have been feeling amazing. But i am definitely still making sure i attack the problem at the source. Its just nice to feel normal again. Its like 20lbs off my check. I would look into it if i were you just to get your feet back on the ground!!
My attacks can last all day with adrenaline rushing down my arms and face beaming
You post videos so rarely :(
Every other week there's a podcast video like this one. On the alternate weeks I do a "recovery Monday" livestream here at 2 PM eastern. And every Friday new episodes of "Disordered" come out. It's a fair amount of work to produce all this. ;-)