{"id":82806,"date":"2018-04-03T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=82806"},"modified":"2023-03-13T10:28:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T10:28:13","slug":"how-to-stop-an-anxiety-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/how-to-stop-an-anxiety-attack.htm","title":{"rendered":"How to Stop an Anxiety Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"how<\/a>

By: Practical Cures<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n

Anxiety<\/a> is bad enough.<\/p>\n

When it turns into anxiety attacks<\/a>, we can feel our life is<\/strong> in danger (about a quarter of visits to A&E for heart attacks end up being anxiety).<\/p>\n

7 Ways to Stop\u00a0 an Anxiety Attack<\/h2>\n

What practical steps can you take to stop an anxiety attack?<\/p>\n

1. Accept the experience.<\/span><\/h3>\n

For most of us, our inbuilt reaction to feeling an anxiety attack coming on is to panic and try not to let it happen.<\/p>\n

The result? We feel more<\/em> anxious. And the more we fight the attack, the more overwhelming it becomes.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The truth about anxiety is that it is as much a physical experience as a mental one.<\/strong> Your primal brain has triggered the fight, flight, or freeze response<\/a>, which releases a cocktail of chemicals into your body. <\/span><\/p>\n

You CAN’T just throw an off switch on all that.<\/strong> You can\u00a0slow the attack down and have it stop faster with proper techniques. But, to an extent, you have to ride the wave.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"how

By: hansol<\/p><\/div>\n

The more we lean in and accept that we are having a fit of anxiety, the less anxious we feel. It’s not the end of the world, it’s an anxiety attack. And like everything in life, the end will come. Think of each anxious thought as a wave that you are riding. Each wave dies down on the beach. No wave is forever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. Recognise you are not the anxiety.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Step back and recognise the anxiety as separate from you.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The anxiety does not control you. You are here, the anxiety is there. And you are still in charge of your life, even though anxiety is temporarily flooding through you. You can still choose how to respond to the anxiety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some find it helpful to even talk to their anxiety<\/strong> (this can be done quietly, in your head, if you are not alone). “Hello anxiety, it’s you again. Okay. Well I accept you are here, but I also know that you are not permanent, and that whatever you are going to make me think and feel in the next few minutes is anxiety talking, not reality, or who I am.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Bring mindfulness<\/a> to the experience.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Be fully present<\/a> with what is happening while not judging it.\u00a0<\/strong>Start, for example, noting your exact symptoms. Your heart is beating, you are breathing fast. Your neck is tense. Again, accepting the experience tends to lessen anxiety.<\/p>\n

Try to actually catch each anxious thought, and see it without judgement<\/strong>. Think of looking at a stormy sky. You see the cloud, but even if it shaped like a wild horse or beast, you know it is just a cloud, and let it float by. You are an anxious thought, and I will let you go.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"how<\/a>

By: Tony Hall<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Or again, see anxious thoughts as a series of waves. Different sizes, different strengths, but you are going to just breath your way through first one, then another. You go along to shore. No wave lasts forever. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A popular and calming Youtube video on this topic can be found here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Over focus on one thing.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Another way to use mindfulness to slow anxiety is to focus on a particular object with all your attention.<\/strong> It can be whatever is closest.<\/p>\n

Say, for example, anxiety hits on crowded train. Focus on the shoes of the stranger across from you in a packed train \u2013 the colour, the laces, the cracks in the leather. Notice the tiny movements when the passenger shifts in his seat. Imagine what the shoes would feel like to wear.<\/p>\n

You can also focus on a phrase.<\/strong> This might be a mantra you like, or a verse. You might repeat a calming poem, for example, again and again to yourself.<\/p>\n

5. Activate the parasympathetic nervous system.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
\"how<\/a>

By: Bonnie Brown<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

When you have an anxiety attack, your sympathetic nervous system is activated, hence the pounding heart, edginess, sweating, etc.<\/p>\n

What works best here is to trigger the counteractive parasympathetic<\/em> nervous system (PNS). <\/strong>This system slows<\/em> your heart rate and\u00a0lowers\u00a0<\/em>anxiety.<\/p>\n

Things that can stimulate the PNS<\/strong>\u00a0include:<\/p>\n