When you are panicking, a set of physical symptoms will likely manifest. These can include accelerated heart rate, faster breathing, sweating, shaking and more. Some people report severe, illness-mimicking symptoms such as chest pains, tingling extremities, and tunnel vision.
Fortunately, breathing is both voluntary and involuntary. Try to will your heart into slowing down, and you might not have much luck. But start to control your breathing and you can start to have some control over your physical panic responses.
A couple of approaches: While people will often tell you in the moment to take deep breaths, this runs the risk of triggering hyperventilation. Controlled breathing is the actual goal here.
One way is to breathe in to the count of five, then count to five as you release. The counting gives your mind something to focus on, and the control you’re exerting over your breathing helps calm your physical symptoms.
Another way is what’s called triangle breathing. It’s called this because it’s in three parts:
Breathe in for three seconds, hold it for three seconds, and release it for three seconds. Again, this benefits the panicking person by giving the mind something else to focus on, as well as pushing back against the cascade of physical responses to the danger or trigger.
If you are in actual danger right now, remove yourself. No caveman being chased by a saber tooth tiger would pause to calm himself while still in danger of becoming a meal.
If you are in a safe place, first work on your breathing. If you have a history of panic attacks, you may need a plan in place to implement this since you may not be thinking rationally. You can create a practice routine so that breathing control is your go-to response when panicking. You could also store the following in your phone or on a card in your purse/wallet so that you simply need to focus on accessing that information in the moment.
Now, repeat the word “stop” to yourself over and over. Panic works as a crescendo, and you’re just trying to interrupt it. You know the trajectory, and you’re trying to stop it from getting to where it has gone before.
Then, the moment you have even a little success controlling your breathing and getting a handle on your thoughts, try to replace those thoughts with something else. For us panicky people, it’s good to have a standby, like a memory of a favorite vacation or something to look forward to. One useful variation of thought replacement is to distract yourself. This can be as simple as telling yourself to count all the blue objects you see, or something more complex like committing yourself to cleaning a room or taking a shower.
Finally, validate yourself. You are not broken. Something has led to this state, whether it is current or the past. Tell yourself that it is understandable that you began to feel panic, and it doesn’t mean that you are “less than” or profoundly flawed in some way.
