10 Best Ways to Get Rid of Panic Attacks

Let’s first understand what a panic attack is. This is a sudden attack of unreasonable anxiety or fear, which is often accompanied by a rapid heartbeat, excessive sweating, trembling in the hands and feet.¹. A person during a panic attack may experience chest pain, nausea, and discomfort in the abdomen. Nervous diarrhea may even develop¹. There is a fear of suddenly dying, getting a heart attack, or that something terrible is about to happen. At the moment of an attack, a person does not even realize where he is and what is happening to him. The world may seem unreal, and the usual outlines of objects blur.

Obviously, out of the blue, causeless panic usually does not occur. This condition is preceded by prolonged or acute stress. Sometimes panic attacks occur against the background of anemia, problems with the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, but this is extremely rare.².

If panic attacks poison your life and prevent you from focusing on work or your favorite business, you need to contact a psychotherapist or psychiatrist who can prescribe medication. But psychotherapy is equally important.². At sessions with a psychotherapist, you will learn how to manage your emotions, extinguish panic on your own, and deal with the psychological causes of panic attacks.³.

10 Best Ways to Get Rid of Panic Attacks

If a panic attack caught you by surprise, you can try to get rid of it yourself. In this article, we will look at several effective ways to restore peace of mind on our own.

1. Watch your breath

When we are afraid, our breathing quickens, and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood decreases. Because of this, there is a feeling of lack of air, which further enhances the panic attack.

Therefore, first of all, during a panic attack, you need to calm your breathing. To do this, the most ordinary bag, which you need to breathe in, can help until your breathing becomes even. If there is no bag with you, you can fold your palms in a boat and breathe in them.

Another option is to try deep, slow breathing. For example, first inhale very slowly and deeply, and then exhale with force and for a long time so that there is no air left in the lungs. Repeat several times. You can imagine that you are breathing through your mouth through a narrow cocktail tube: inhale and exhale very slowly until your breathing starts to return to normal².

2. Distract by the pain signal

Sometimes a physical impact can distract from the impending panic. For example, you can strongly pinch your hand, pat your face with your palms, rub your cheeks or ears, and strongly clench and unclench your fists. The brain will switch to processing the pain signal, and this will allow it to distract from the panic. Some people who suffer from panic attacks even wear a special band around their wrists. When they feel that an attack is close, they pull it back and let it go. Pain click helps to return to reality.

Another exercise that psychologists advise to quickly get rid of a panic attack on your own. We find a point between the thumb and forefinger on the hand and sharply press on it so that it hurts. So we repeat 3 times, after which we carry out the manipulation on the other hand.

3. Wash with cold water

Another fairly simple and effective way to get rid of a panic attack is to wash your face with cold water. It literally “sobers up” and relieves an attack of rolling anxiety. In winter, you can rub your face or hands with snow. A contrast shower also helps a lot: changing hot and cold water will invigorate and distract you from unpleasant thoughts.².

4. Engage the senses

To quickly get rid of a panic attack, you can use your senses: smell, taste. Try chewing mint gum or sucking on a menthol candy. The more “thermonuclear” – the better! In the end, take a sip of water or just take a bite and chew slowly, fully focusing on the taste.

You can also carry a bottle of eucalyptus, pine or orange essential oil with you and breathe it in.

5. Change the setting

A change of scenery can help take your mind off the growing anxiety. For example, you are in a noisy company and feel that you are about to panic. Go to the next room, ask to be left alone for a while. If possible, go to the entrance, to the street.

6. Switch to the outside world

Switching to the outside world helps to divert attention from panic anxiety. Count (better out loud) cars passing by, lit windows in a neighboring house, flying birds, buttons on clothes, books on a shelf, etc. Feel what a warm and soft scarf, what a smooth and cool glass cup, what a rough upholstery to the touch. Say out loud everything that comes to your mind².

The main thing is to switch the brain from internal experiences to reading and processing external information. You can carry a rosary with you during an alarm, sort through them and count them.

7. Listen to music

Music is a great medicine that can help with panic attacks too. If you feel anxiety coming on, turn up your favorite music. Sing out loud, maybe even dance. If you don’t have a radio or a telephone at hand, just sing loudly and you will feel how the fear recedes.

8. Focus on your own body

During a panic attack, it is important to be able to control your own body. This will help relieve trembling in the hands, soothe stray breathing and heart palpitations. Try to relax as much as possible. Imagine that you are using an internal “scanner” to determine exactly where fear and panic are formed in your body. Feel for this tense area and mentally try to relax it. Speak to yourself or out loud that everything is fine, that the attack will end soon, that no one has died from a panic attack yet, and it will not bring harm to health. Combine this with proper breathing, and soon the condition will improve significantly.³.

9. Breathing practices

Breathing practices, yoga, meditation are suitable for both beginners and advanced ones. Of course, you should not expect that you will instantly plunge into nirvana, distracted from all experiences. But even simple meditation exercises will help relieve muscle and emotional tension.

You are not required to know all the asanas or get into the “dancing dragon” position. It is enough to sit on the floor and take a comfortable position or lie down. Close your eyes and focus all your attention on some object. Breathe deeply and slowly while saying the instructions: “My fear is gradually disappearing”, “I can keep my emotions under control”, etc.

10. Physical exercises

Jogging, swimming, any sport, even an ordinary walk, contributes to the active synthesis of endorphins – hormones of joy. They act as a safe antidepressant – relieve anxiety, improve mood and sleep.

Psychologist’s advice on getting rid of panic attacks

How advises psychologist-consultant, member of the Russian Psychological Society Elena AkhromeevaIt is important to remember that a panic attack is limited in time. It can last from 5 minutes to 2 hours, but it will definitely end anyway. The realization of this fact is already able to calm a little.

You can also perform some effective exercises that will help get rid of panic.

1. Grounding exercise

During a panic, a person “soil comes out from under his feet.” The body is not felt as a source of support, but as if it has “gone crazy”. This is called a state of loss of control. Therefore, the task of a person is to organize support for himself through the body, realizing and feeling its physical parameters.

• Weight. We can feel the weight of our body.
• Volume. We occupy a certain volume in space: where I sit, stand, in what part of the room.
• posture or movement. We can develop activity, perform some action or movement.
• Equilibrium. The body itself keeps balance without much effort.
• Circuit. Our body is in contact with the outside world (the feeling of how the feet are on the floor, how the muscles of the thighs are in contact with the chair, etc.)

Try to understand all these options. This will return the feeling of control over your body and condition.

2. Grounding exercise through the 5 senses

Another exercise that will help you ground yourself through the use of the 5 senses of your body:

• Find 5 items of red color (or any other) around you.
• Find 4 sounds you are hearing right now. For example, the noise of cars, the sound of a clock, the sound of a refrigerator, the cry of children on the street.
• Smell 3 things. You can smell your hair, hands, a book, cream, fruit, pastries.
• Touch 2 things. For example, a soft toy, a blanket, a table surface. If you are outside, pick a branch and touch it. You can touch the hair, the body.
• Taste something. Gum, candy, soda.

3. Breathing with an emphasis on exhalation

1. 1-2-3 – inhale;
2. 4-5-6 – breath holding;
3. 7-8-9-10 – exhale.

The exhalation should be longer. This is necessary in order to saturate the body with carbon dioxide. So stress hormones (adrenaline, norepinephrine, dopamine, etc.) will be broken down faster. This means that the panic will pass faster. But opening a window, going out onto the balcony during a panic attack is not recommended. Our task is to lower the level of oxygen in the blood and increase the level of carbon dioxide.

Try to breathe with your stomach: you can put your palm on your stomach and make sure that your hand rises as you inhale. This is done in order to exclude shallow breathing and, as a result, hyperventilation of the lungs, which leads to a feeling of lack of air.

4. Exercise with palms

Rub your palms as if you are trying to warm them. Rub your palms together quickly and vigorously until you feel heat in them.

Now place one palm just above the heart (pericardial plexus area). And the other hand – in the area of ​​​​the solar plexus.

Focus on the feeling of warmth that comes from the hands. Try to breathe so that you can feel your hands moving. You will feel a little sleepy, and this is normal.

This exercise activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation and relieving internal tension.

5. Throw out all your emotions

This exercise is suitable if the panic attack started at home. Ask yourself: what do I want now? What movement do you want to make?

For a surge of tension, you can scream, cry, beat the pillow. Imagine that you are a small child who is hysterical, yelling, stamping his feet and waving his arms.

6. Exercise “Wet dog”

You can also imagine that you are a wet dog that shakes off the hair. Shake your arms, legs, torso, as if trying to brush off drops of water from yourself. Physical movement breaks down stress hormones and helps the body ground itself.

7. To drink a lot of water

Adrenaline, which is responsible for the feeling of anxiety, will leave with urine.

Popular questions and answers

What causes panic attacks, how long do they last, whether valerian will help relieve anxiety, and other popular questions are answered by our expert – counseling psychologist, member of the Russian Psychological Society Elena Akhromeeva.

Sources of:

1. Panic attacks (clinic, diagnosis, principles of treatment). Vorobieva O.V. Treatment of diseases of the nervous system. No. 2 (17), 2015. https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=25837082
2. Anxiety, fear and panic attacks. Self help book. A.V. Goloshchapov. St. Petersburg, 2016. https://goo.su/mFvlwit
3. Panic attacks and their correction. Arutyunova E.E., Tsygankov B.D. Russian Medical Journal, No. 1, 2017. https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=9474794