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To someone suffering from panic attacks, the cause of these panic episodes seem mysterious and beyond their control. But it is this belief in their utter helplessness that allows the panic attacks to occur. The solution is actually simple: take control of your thoughts and feelings when the panic begins and the panic attack cannot happen.
I know what you're thinking. It's easier said than done. But essentially that is what cognitive behavioral therapy, the anxiety treatment programs from the internet and workbooks on overcoming anxiety have in common. They prepare you to mentally take control to stop panic attacks BEFORE they happen.
People who suffer from severe panic attacks try their best to cope by exercise, breathing techniques, medication and whatnot. They work to some extent but coping is just going on the defense. In sports, you cannot win by playing defensively all the time. To win, you have to know strategically when to go on the offensive. Same thing with panic attacks. You have to take charge before it happens.
How do you take charge of your thoughts and your feelings?
First you have to do some research and find out how panic attacks occur. The subject of your phobia or OCD is only the trigger. The trigger is not what fuels the panic. It is your thoughts and feelings that steadily snowball a bit of worry into an avalanche of terror.
Whether you are afraid of parties or spiders or plane flights, the underlying thought is the same: that you might die from your next panic attack. That thought naturally generates feelings of fear, which generates more panicky thoughts, which generates more fear, and so forth and so forth until you have a full-blown panic attack. Once you start looking at your panic attacks from a scientific rather emotional perspective, you've already gained some control.
Secondly, you have to adjust your core beliefs about yourself. All anxiety sufferers lack control because their self-confidence is so low. They sincerely believe that they are hysterical, cowardly and pathetic.
Actually, the truth is that anxiety sufferers are the bravest people in the world. Let's look at this rationally instead of emotionally. You have abnormally high levels of adrenalin in your bloodstream all the time. You've coped with this severe condition day after day for months or years while holding down a job and raising a family perhaps. Normal people have a hard enough time dealing with life's difficulties but each challenge for the common man is 10 times more difficult for an anxiety sufferer to bear.
No one will give you a medal for anxiety disorder but you need to mentally give yourself one because you deserve it for bravery way beyond the call of duty. It is this bravery already inside you that you need to bring out to face your fears. All you have to do is acknowledge that it is there.
The last step will probably require the help of a therapist or a structured program to prepare you take charge of your thoughts and feelings when the panic attack begins. Taking control means going on the offensive. Going on the offensive means not just meekly exposing yourself to the things or situations that trigger your anxiety but inviting the panic to come. It means that if you are afraid of social situations, you have to throw your own party. Your fear is false and deep down you already know this. The way to call its bluff is to let the fear and panic go through you without any resistance.
What happens to anxiety sufferers when they do this? You will find that boldly inviting the fear to come causes it to fizzle out. Why? Because you have just performed a fearless act.
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