A Panic Attack is Scary, But it Won't Kill You!

[Elsie Brody]

You Haven't Died Yet! This is really the key to managing, controlling
and curing your panic attacks. Anxiety disorders take such a powerful
hold because we let them, 
? we think the worst things
? believe the worst things
? feel the worst things
because we would have it so. Rather than believing the worst, try to
believe the best. 
Have your panic attacks killed you yet? No.... they haven't! You may
have thought you were dying the first time it happened, but once you
figured out it wasn't a heart attack and the doctor sent you on your
way, didn't you understand what it was the next time? 
Did the panic attack kill you? If it hasn't yet, it won't, so accept
it as part of your life and try to encourage yourself with positive
talk and reassurance that you will survive.
Dealing with your panic attacks is really just an exercise in mind
over body.
While this may sound simple, for people who experience panic attacks
it is anything but! Panic is a natural reaction. People experience
panic all the time in situations they are exposed to. Your plane has
lost power and is going down in a river, you panic... You are being
chased by a rabid dog, you panic and run...
Our bodies are working to save us from the dangerous or unpleasant
situations we find our selves in. Panic attacks are a problem because
of their timing, they are out of context and they occur when obvious
danger is not present. 
For some sufferers, the situations that trigger panic attacks are at
least understandable, performing in front of a crowd, speaking in
front of others, even riding in an elevator or going into a crowded
place. 
It's possible to understand why a person might be worried even if you
can't understand their degree of worry. For others, the panic attacks
happen in the most unlikely of places, the nail salon, picking out
vegetables at the supermarket. 
Interestingly, a panic attack may arise in a situation where you
wouldn't ordinarily feel panic, and situations that could really
induce fear are easily handled. 
For example, a police officer could chase down a suspect, tackle him,
handcuff and then take him back to the precinct for questioning
without even batting an eye. This is routine, normal course of
business and perfectly normal to him. 
He doesn't experience a panic attack, just the normal adrenaline rush
that goes along with the chase. On his way home from work, he stops
off at the market to pick up some spaghetti sauce for his wife and has
a panic attack in aisle 5. 
What is this all about? The chemicals in his brain went haywire in
aisle 5 and stayed normal on 23rd street. Having a panic attack
doesn't make you weak, it doesn't make you a bad person and it doesn't
mean you're a wimp. 
All it means is that your body is responding to unpleasant stimulus
and your task is to figure out the things that set it off and try to
work with your psyche to approach tasks not with panic but an open
mind.