Panic Attacks
Anyone who has ever had a panic attack will know how terrifying it is. It has been described as the highest level of fear there is.
The symptoms are:
- Racing heartbeat
- Fast, shallow breathing/ shortness of breath
- Feeling ight-headed or dizzy
- Trembling or shaking
- Sweating
- Nausea or even vomiting
- Fear of losing control
The severity of the symptoms can frighten us into believing we are having a heart attack or dying. This terrifying thought prolongs the symptoms which would otherwise slowly disappear quite naturally.
Understanding panic attacks – what is happening and what causes them, is crucial to taking control to prevent them or minimise the symptoms.
Panic attacks can be the result of an intolerable build-up of stress over time or they can be in response to trauma. They can also be an unconscious response to some reminder of a traumatic event, e.g. the smell of petrol might trigger a panic attack for someone who was in a serious car accident.
What happens is, the brain’s emotional alarm system goes into overdrive – like when the smoke alarm goes off when we burn the toast – a false alarm because there is no real fire. Just like the smoke alarm is designed to keep us safe, but sometimes makes mistakes, so our brain’s emotional alarm system can kick in inappropriately when there is no real danger.
Dealing with Panic Attacks
I can help you to overcome and prevent Panic Attacks by helping you to:
- Learn how to calm down quickly
- Understand the process of pattern-matching
- Become desensitised to triggers
- Reduce general stress levels
- Identify any emotional needs that are not well met and plan how to introduce the necessary changes,
- Control negative thoughts
- Deal effectively with traumatic memories.