Stop the Panic! Varied Approaches on How to Stop Panic Attacks

Stop the Panic! Varied Approaches on How to Stop Panic Attacks

Conventional understanding on how to stop panic attacks often seems divided between anti-anxiety pharmaceutical drugs on the one hand and gentler, natural, sometimes holistic means on the other. The difference may depend on causes of panic, but probably for health practitioners more often is rooted in two separate views of healing humans.I. A philosophical divide in approachAccording to one view, the body with its anxious brain is a chemical machine that needs to be corrected with chemicals. The other view is that a whole person is a network of biological, spiritual/emotional, and behavioral elements, each of which may need separate treatment for best remedying panic and anxiety.This philosophical divide does not fit neatly between natural and pharmaceutical approaches, however. It is common enough for doctors and psychiatrists not only to prescribe drugs but also to treat anxiety disorders like panic attack with cognitive behavioral therapies. Or on the other hand, one can treat panic merely with the use of calming herbs, aromatherapy items or other natural substances and ignore behavioral, spiritual or emotional issues. We'll label this side as "behavioral" for brevity's sake.Depending on causes of anxiety, sometimes the "chemical" side is all that is needed to stop panic attacks. That chemical may be a drug or it may be a nutritional substance. More frequently, however, both chemical and behavioral sides must be addressed. And more frequently, the behavioral side is the more important and effective long term ... if it is applied judiciously.II. Behavioral solutionsCertainly some unwise behavioral approaches have proven ineffective. Avoidance behaviors are a hallmark of anxiety disorders. Avoiding a situation that influences one to fear may seem to help, but typically it ends up strengthening the anxiety. One tailors one's shrinking life around what one avoids.Unfortunately, both psychotropic drugs and natural substances that sedate or calm can be abused as means to enable avoidance behavior. As a ready parallel, one may drink alcohol in order to avoid facing one's problems. One may legitimately use calming substances intermittently (alcohol is not recommended) or as a beginning means of controlling panic. The problem comes with over-reliance.Another ineffective technique can be positive thinking. Of course morbid thinking is commonly part of the problem, but rarely can one wish away panic attacks or cure oneself merely by saying so. Positive thinking must be rightly understood and applied to be part of the solution.As flour alone does not make bread, so controlling thinking alone may not be enough to overcome a heightened state of anxiety. More may be needed. But there are thought techniques that commonly have a calming effect.One such technique is very simple. Gratitude. granted, that may not be easy as vivid memories of the death of a parent when you were young slam into your brain or as the accumulated stresses of life swarm like an army of ants over your consciousness, but even then everyone has things to be grateful for. As long as the thankfulness is genuine (rather than sarcastic or merely casual), gratitude has a way of reducing our anxiety. The more, the better. And the things for which one is grateful need not be big things, they can be little ones.Another positive thought technique concerns the false assumptions which anxiety uses to point to worse things in the future. I may assume falsely that one small mistake will cost me my reputation at work or in the family. So I feel under constant stress. Or if I begin to think I am more accepted and secure than that (or if I can accept some loss), some tension and anxiety is released. One may also falsely assume one is immediately at risk of becoming seriously ill, abandoned, or subject to other significant loss. But what if one realized that one was much less at risk than one assumed? Or what if one realized that even if a spouse left or a job was lost, that one could recover and move on?This is not to say that bad things are not bad. Rather, some reduction in anxiety is possible with a more realistic projection and with the courage to accept what might happen. Facing one's fears is a positive-thinking way of bringing them under one's control.Of course facing fears is the last thing that panic attack sufferers (not to mention most of the rest of society) would rather do. But when we avoid, the fear gets stronger. Along the way, other natural remedies for panic attacks may serve a useful purpose.III. Physical remediesThere are prescription drugs that are used for their sedating influence. Some herbs function similarly, notably Kava Kava or Skull Cap, Hops, Passionflower, and Valerian. Some vitamins and amino acids are also known for their calming influence. Examples include GABA with Inositol and Niacinamide, and tryptophan, the amino acid in the meat of Turkey that makes one feel drowsy. If one is already taking drugs for anxiety or depression or for anything else, one must talk with a doctor before adding natural calming substances since there may be a conflict taking both at the same time. Or an individual may not react well to certain natural substances as is true of individual reactions to drugs.Other natural remedies include physical exercise and slow, abdominal breathing. Hyperventilation is common during panic attacks. Slowed breathing reduces some of the symptoms (especially important if one is asthmatic). Regular exercise burns lactic acid and stress-hormone adrenaline and increases endorphins, thus improving mood.And the list of possibilities goes on. Panic attacks are quite treatable. There is hope even when one is discouraged, especially if all aspects of a human being are considered.

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