With respect to dealing with the physical symptoms, controlled breathing is really all you have as a weapon against it, and all in all it's a pretty effective tool.
I'd advise you to play around with your response. Some things that have helped for me is telling myself that the body is undergoing a hyperemotional response that is not sustainable for that long, maybe 180 seconds at a stretch. Simply acknowledging that helps get out of the mental spiral or the fear of it escalating. Another approach my friend advocates is going head on against the attack, like challenging it 'let's go motherfucker, you think you're gonna win this time?'. I find that one fun for milder attacks, but generally controlled breathing is the go-to when you really do need to manage it quickly.
FWIW, as horrific as panic attacks are I've also found some silver lining in them (as all adversity has), with an immense level of self-respect for being sent down the hole and consistently rising to the challenge and coming out on top.
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With respect to dealing with the physical symptoms, controlled breathing is really all you have as a weapon against it, and all in all it's a pretty effective tool.
I'd advise you to play around with your response. Some things that have helped for me is telling myself that the body is undergoing a hyperemotional response that is not sustainable for that long, maybe 180 seconds at a stretch. Simply acknowledging that helps get out of the mental spiral or the fear of it escalating. Another approach my friend advocates is going head on against the attack, like challenging it 'let's go motherfucker, you think you're gonna win this time?'. I find that one fun for milder attacks, but generally controlled breathing is the go-to when you really do need to manage it quickly.
FWIW, as horrific as panic attacks are I've also found some silver lining in them (as all adversity has), with an immense level of self-respect for being sent down the hole and consistently rising to the challenge and coming out on top.
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