Prevent and calm an anxiety attack

Prevent and calm an anxiety attack

Can we prevent? 

There is no really effective method to prevent anxiety attacks, especially since they usually occur in an unpredictable way.

However, appropriate management, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological, can help to learn to manage his stress and prevent crises from becoming too frequent or too much disabling. It is therefore important to see a doctor quickly to stop the vicious circle as soon as possible.

Basic preventive measures

To reduce the risk of having anxiety attacks, the following measures, which are mostly common sense, are very useful:

– Well follow his treatment, and do not stop taking medication without medical advice;

— Avoid consuming exciting substances, alcohol or drugs, which can trigger seizures; 

— Learn to manage stress to limit the triggering factors or interrupt the crisis when it starts (relaxation, yoga, sports, meditation techniques, etc.); 

– Adopt a healthy lifestyle : good diet, regular physical activity, restful sleep …

– Find support from therapists (psychiatrist, psychologist) and associations of people suffering from the same anxiety disorders, to feel less alone and benefit from relevant advice.

It can be difficult to come to terms with panic attacks, but there are effective treatments and therapies. Sometimes you have to try several or combine them, but the vast majority of people manage to reduce or even eliminate their acute anxiety attacks thanks to these measures.

Prevent and calm an anxiety attack: understand everything in 2 min

therapies

The effectiveness of psychotherapy in treating anxiety disorders is well established. It is even the treatment of choice in many cases, before having to resort to drugs.

To treat anxiety attacks, the therapy of choice is the cognitive and behavioral therapy, or TCC. However, it may be interesting to combine it with another type of psychotherapy (analytical, systemic therapy, etc.) in order to prevent the symptoms from moving and reappearing in other forms. 

In practice, CBTs generally take place over 10 to 25 sessions spaced a week apart, individually or in groups.

The therapy sessions are intended to inform about the state of panic and gradually modify “false beliefs”, the interpretation errors and negative behaviors associated with them, in order to replace them with more rational and realistic knowledge.

Several techniques allow you to learn to stop crises, and to calm down when you feel anxiety rising. Simple exercises should be done week to week in order to progress. It should be noted that CBTs are useful in reducing symptoms but their objective is not to define the origin, the cause of the emergence of these panic attacks. 

In the other methods, theassertiveness can be effective in improving emotional control and developing new behaviors adapted to react to situations deemed to be distressing.

La analytical psychotherapy (psychoanalysis) can be interesting when there are underlying conflicting elements linked to the psycho-affective evolution of the person.

pharmaceuticals

Among pharmacological treatments, several classes of drugs have been shown to reduce the frequency of acute anxiety attacks.

The Antidepressants are the treatments of first choice, followed by anxiolytics (Xanax®) which, however, present a greater risk of dependence and side effects. The latter are therefore reserved for the treatment of the crisis, when it is prolonged and treatment is necessary.

In France, the two types of antidepressants recommended5 to treat panic disorders over the long term are:

  • selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the principle of which is to increase the amount of serotonin in the synapses (junction between two neurons) by preventing the reuptake of the latter. We recommend in particular the paroxetine (Deroxat® / Paxil®), l’escitalopram (Seroplex® / Lexapro®) and the citalopram (Seropram® / Celexa®)
  • tricyclic antidepressants such as clomipramine (Anafranil®).

In some cases, the venlafaxine (Effexor®) may also be prescribed.

Antidepressant treatment is first prescribed for 12 weeks, then an assessment is made to decide whether to continue or change the treatment.

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