Anti-anxiety/panic attack techniques
Tip to help with an anxiety attack:
- Look around you.
- Find 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste.
This is called grounding. It can help when you feel like you have lost all control of your surroundings.
Alternate:
Find 5 things of different colors, name their five colors. Like: Brown chair, white table, green couch, red walls, blue box. Brown, white, green, red, blue. Repeat them in your head or say it out loud if you prefer.
There's also the option to sit on the edge of a chair (or any stable surface), then you put your hands on your knees while keeping your back straight. This will forces you to keep keep your balance, and feel more grounded to the world around you. At the same time, find the five colors and repeat it in your head.
Feel free to share any tips that you have as well!
Nice one :)
I saw this exact technique very recently, yesterday I think, but I can't for the life of me remember where! Thank you for sharing! :)
thank you this is very helpful !
If you have your iPod or a cd player, find a song (or songs) that you like or calm you. (I often choose something without lyrics that could trigger me more). Then listen for different instruments - if you have a musical background try to name them and determine the count they cue in on. Even without training try to determine which instrument is loudest, softest, following the melody, etc. You can listen to the same song on repeat picking out different instruments and following them each time until you feel calmer.
@JoiedeViva I've been plugging in my headphones, closing my eyes, and listening to this lately and it's helped a ton! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvo4P0SfBOw
@JoiedeViva I do this all the time and it helps so much
True...,
Next time I have a panic attack I'm going to try this. Thank you for posting.
This is also a treatment for PTSD and flashback survivors.
I don't like distractions because they're just that, distractions. The panic is still there, it'll just hit later. I used to have panic attacks but I've discovered that being brutally objective takes the legs out from under panic attacks and makes it difficult for them to come back.
Ask why you're scared, what causes it and don't stop until you get the most objective answers you can.
Sounds like it would work, but I'd be very scared to try that. Sounds a bit like a Mindfulness exercise I did, but with that one you kind of explored bit by bit - if things got icky you could kind of pull yourself back to the breathing. Same goal I guess.
Unless you have a 7 year old who suffers from this. They cannot really answer these questions.
I am glad you can do this for yourself. I can do it for myself but my daughter is a walking mess right now to the point that she gets numbness in her hands and feet that it is very painful for her. We have started doing the above and it is helping and we are also going to start play therapy in July.
Blessed day to you and your strong will!
Sometimes when I'm anxious I make myself count how many times my anxiety turned out to be A) something real to worry about, and B) how many times it didn't. Lets just say that my A score has never raised above approximately zero, and by B score is rather large.
I'll still be anxious next week, but it seems to help in the moment.
I get anti anxiety and panic attack but I techniquelly talk through the attack to a counselor or other staffs at school and than I slowly calm down and feel happy.
