Panic Attacks 101

[Ayla]

Every human being suffers from PTSD ( or better said, Complex PTSD) ! 

It is part of the human conditioning at this point in our evolution. Every other serious emotional issue is a byproduct of PTSD. Panic attacks is the most common one.

If you are experiencing panic attacks frequently, here are some techniques to deal with them: 

1. Train yourself during the day to breathe in and out 7 times as deep as possible. Your body and brain will immediately switch to this calming way of dealing with stress as soon as panic comes (instead of going into "fight /  flight / freeze" mode)

2. "7-8-4 breathing" : Breathe in counting to 7 - hold breath counting to 8 - breathe out counting to 4 (also useful for insomnia)

3. keep a paper bag handy and breathe inside it to avoid hyperventilation. Focus on just closing your mouth and breathe through nose.

4. if you are not used to bringing yourself in the moment and your mind races forward, only think of the next 5 seconds. Focus on the next five seconds with eyes open. This will help you see that there is no immediate real danger. 

5. close your eyes and mouth. let yourself breathe through nose and mentally rotate your eyes in circular motion. ( you do not need to do it physically - just thinking about it works)

Use these whenever in extreme stress, but try to experiment with them outside those moments, in order to train your brain to automatically go there when panic strikes.

<3 

 

[Kelley White]

MaydayB4, WOW!  Awesome tangible tools Thank you so much.  I am going to try these.  

Edited February 5, 2016 by Kelley White
Got name incorrect when responding.

[pgchollet]

Mayday84 your suggestions are wonderful. However, I think it's wise not to make blanket statements about  psychological disorders especially when they're not correct.  You said , everyone suffers from PTSD, it's part of human condition., that just isn't the case. Every emotional issue isn't a by product of PTSD at all. It's important when using terms that are actual diagnostic terms that you're not giving our misinformation that could potentially harm someone. PTSD isn't the same as a panic attack.  in fact, there is a huge difference between a panic attack and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

A person who has PTSD had or was exposed to a traumatic experience. They may have experienced the trauma, witnessed the trauma, learns that the trauma happened to a loved one or is subject to extreme exposure of  the  horrific details of an event, such as media content. What happens with PTSD is after either, experiencing, witnessing, being told, or being exposed to a traumatic event, the person experiences severe  emotional and social impairments.They're so distressed about the experience that they lose their ability to functioning in their work and personal life. 

A panic attack isn't a disorder like PTSD. A panic attack "happens" and is one of the characteristics of  Panic Disorder. A panic attack happens suddenly. A person feels intense fear and,  it rises, peaks, and flows outward. I would tell my clients to thinks of a huge wave swelling and breaking in the ocean. Or if your a mom kind of like a contraction. The tricky  thing about panic attacks is that they can start even when your feel very calm.

Your tips are very useful and would help anyone who is experiencing anxiety.

I know people use terms such as PTSD, ADHD ,Bipolar, Depression freely, but they are specific diagnostics disorders. What happens when we throw around terms is, they become so "common" that the disorder loses its significance. And you hear expressions like, "Oh, you're just depressed" or "She's crazy, she must be Bipolar". A disorder is then reduce to a painful "Label". 

[Ayla]

@pgchollet@msn.com

Thank you for your assessment. I do maintain mine. I do have a masters degree in psychology and a lot of spiritual experience to back up my affirmations. I do respect your opinion and encourage you to go along with whatever you feel fits your current understanding of life and things. There's just no other way for us to go forward, but to walk the path we are on, from where we currently are. 

[nbolt]

Gonna have to agree with pgchollet- saying everyone suffers from PTSD and every psychological illness stems from it is just... wrong.

[Kelly]

I happen to believe that EVERYONE suffers from PTSD as well, especially if you break down the term - post - after, trauma - EVERYONE has had multiple traumas - stress - yeah, everyone experiences that too - disorder - well, that's a sticky term that is a bit "socially loaded," but if you think of it in terms of a disorderly or irrational way of thinking and then behaving, but I believe that this includes you, and me, and pretty much everyone. It really gets at the heart of knowing/ accepting that we all have irrational fears after experiencing something that felt traumatic at the time - the brain doesn't create it as traumatic in a logical fashion - it happens to everyone - otherwise, meditation would be a waste of time - no one would have any emotional blocks. Just because someone hasn't been raped, held at gunpoint, etc. doesn't mean that the psyche doesn't experience certain things as trauma, which cause it shame, fear, anger and a need to shut down and shove the experience under the conscious rug into the unconscious where it causes problems. In fact, especially when I've done Reiki / meditation combo to understand what my biggest blocks to financial prosperity are, it wasn't that I was sexually assaulted (which I was) it was that I was teased and made fun of as a kid at about ten years old for being "weird" or being called "slow" by my peer group - not intellectually lacking, (and in fact, made fun of for being "too smart" in that way,) but being very naive and trusting, and sometimes easily taken advantage of. As I look at it as an adult, I realize how mild the teasing was, and how probably most of it was well-intentioned - I actually was one of the "cool kids" by most people's account, but I was so ashamed of being made to feel stupid in that moment, it has contributed to panic attacks and a lot of irrational fears as an adult. It has made me feel deeply incompetent at times but now I know where that's coming from and it's made a tremendous difference. My psyche experienced this teasing as a trauma because at ten years old, I NEVER spoke about it to anyone and stored it in my subconscious to "protect me" from humiliation which causes me physical distress, and also causes me to compulsively eat sugar and crap to deal with my stress, which I also learned to use to comfort myself when I was a little kid. 

[art]

I would really recommend TRE and Somatic experience! Healing the trauma that is the root of the PTSD. Check out Peter Levines books "Walking the tiger" and "In an unspoken voice". He is the master of trauma release, and explains how the trauma is stuck in the nervous system when no possibility for fight or flight. Trauma is physical more than anything else.

Walking the tiger

http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Tiger-Healing-Peter-Levine/dp/155643233X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454895113&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+the+tiger

In an unspoken voice

http://www.amazon.com/Unspoken-Voice-Releases-Restores-Goodness/dp/1556439431/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454895113&sr=8-2&keywords=walking+the+tiger

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

the original posters advice seems sound to me. The rest seems awfully subjective.

[art]

7 hours ago, mike_herald said:

the original posters advice seems sound to me. The rest seems awfully subjective.

Peter Levine is one of the most acknowledge trauma healers. You should really check him out, by reading one of his books before reject it as "awfully subjective". He is a PhD in medical biophysics and doctorate in psychology, and his mind is open to spirtual practices, as shamanic practices and so one.  My post is just a tip about methods for healing trauma by the root,  not just dealing with the side effects. The original posters advice is great tips! I know many struggle with panick attacks. I have a girlfriend that did struggle with it for 20 years, testing out all sorts of therapy. Somatic experience really got it out of her system.

[Ayla]

5 minutes ago, art said:

Peter Levine is one of the most acknowledge trauma healers. You should really check him out, by reading one of his books before reject it as "awfully subjective". He is a PhD in medical biophysics and doctorate in psychology, and his mind is open to spirtual practices, as shamanic practices and so one.  My post is just a tip about methods for healing trauma by the root,  not just dealing with the side effects. The original posters advice is great tips! I know many struggle with panick attacks. I have a girlfriend that did struggle with it for 20 years, testing out all sorts of therapy. Somatic experience really got it out of her system.

This particular post is dedicated to panic attacks. Healing trauma is another subject altogether. It would be cool to have it referenced under another (separate) topic if you feel like doing that @art

 

[art]

Just now, Ayla said:

This particular post is dedicated to panic attacks. Healing trauma is another subject altogether. It would be cool to have it referenced under another (separate) topic if you feel like doing that @art

 

Yes! Thanks! I will write a topic about it... Sorry for putting it out here, I know it's a digression (But a important one)

[Kelley White]

The C-PTSD field is quite new.  Its not in the DSM but I find it valid and the research indicating more and more its a valid diagnosis I suspect will be in latter editions of the DSM.  Panic attacks are essentially what?  I go into a state of flight, fright, freeze, or fawn due to being triggered by something; an event, an item, a phrase, whatever.  Part of the response is conditioned, part of the response is chemical, particularly if the individual has suffered back to back traumas or life long trauma. 

There is also a difference between an panic attack and an emotional flashback.  Panic attacks generally have a visual component; a way  you can correlate the reaction to a trigger, causation.   An emotional flashback? You can be a C-PTSD sufferer, just begin to feel an overwhelming emotional state, and have no real clue why that state is overcoming you and so suddenly and perhaps greatly impairing your ability  to function.   This can be so complex, that one can be triggered by a color, a scent, even self talk.   It tends to be outside of your awareness.; why it becomes complex.

I agree with Pgchollet that the average individual can throw around these terms without being familiar with all the diagnostic criteria in the DSM current edition.  This can lead to a stigma when the label becomes attributed to being challenging to treat.  For some to focus on the label means being the sum of the label and accepting a limitation.  Mental health labels are really more clinical, they are created to describe a specific spectrum of behaviors to assisted licensed professionals with diagnostic criteria which is standardized based upon norms which are in and of themselves in flux and culturally as well as socially in flux.  Perhaps why the DSM itself morphs with science and data collection over time.  

As a patient I look at a diagnosis as a jumping off point for understanding the causation behind an observed behavioral pattern of conduct manifested over a protracted time which is outside the spectrum considered normal.  Attributing value or devaluation based upon where one falls on the spectrum of abnormal behavior appears to be related to coexistence; do what thou wilt but cause no harm.   I think this is the space where you make corrections and try to find healing to achieve wholeness, whatever wholeness is for you in that now moment in time.

PTSD world?  By observation?  I would agree.  That said?  I'm a wee poet.  I base my theory on research and my direct experiences, observing social patterns as well as patterns in nature and patterns in self, others;  but I also have C-PTSD so my lenses might be skewed and I try to keep that in mind.   I do however observe that with war, crime, economic struggles, the proliferation of information and the acceleration of technological development; a looming Singularity of exponential growth with a zero point of history as reality changes radically daily ?  The escalation of reactivity and maladaptive coping skills like splitting, manifesting in the larger culture to me seem indicative of a PTSD world.  Or I might just be a wee poet with a good theory.  I surmise time will tell. but my intuition is going with the PTSD world observation.

What a great thread!

[Todor]

Hey, I'm new here, actually 5 minutes new. And my first post will be about Panic attacks. I wouldn't be here or having this character if it wasn't for them.

Usually I went through every medical checkup to see whats wrong with me and then they told me to go to a physiatrist and had some pills. In the end I focused on personal development and meditations and managed to get rid of pills and my last panic attack was few years ago. It takes courage to face your fears and to inform your mind and body what's going on and that you won't die from it. Wish you best of luck  

[EnlightenMentHimSelf]

On 4/2/2016 at 7:05 AM, Ayla said:

Every human being suffers from PTSD ( or better said, Complex PTSD) ! 

It is part of the human conditioning at this point in our evolution. Every other serious emotional issue is a byproduct of PTSD. Panic attacks is the most common one.

If you are experiencing panic attacks frequently, here are some techniques to deal with them: 

1. Train yourself during the day to breathe in and out 7 times as deep as possible. Your body and brain will immediately switch to this calming way of dealing with stress as soon as panic comes (instead of going into "fight /  flight / freeze" mode)

2. "7-8-4 breathing" : Breathe in counting to 7 - hold breath counting to 8 - breathe out counting to 4 (also useful for insomnia)

3. keep a paper bag handy and breathe inside it to avoid hyperventilation. Focus on just closing your mouth and breathe through nose.

4. if you are not used to bringing yourself in the moment and your mind races forward, only think of the next 5 seconds. Focus on the next five seconds with eyes open. This will help you see that there is no immediate real danger. 

5. close your eyes and mouth. let yourself breathe through nose and mentally rotate your eyes in circular motion. ( you do not need to do it physically - just thinking about it works)

Use these whenever in extreme stress, but try to experiment with them outside those moments, in order to train your brain to automatically go there when panic strikes.

<3 

 

That is a very good post. Thank You so much for sharing. I have been reading mass about the Tm and found that, the Tm movement is trying to suppress the fact, that studies have shown, that at least 40% of people, who practise Tm, they develop adverse effects. 
Your post is definitely going to help some of us on our path.

I do have a question to serve though. Do you have any idea of, how long after, from you started your practising of Tm, that these emotions come and when will they go?

Now let's say that, there are people who propose, that 20 min each day, that should be the current limit for the practice, in order for your emotions, not to be too powerful, depending on your background.

My question will be, if you practise Tm 20 min a day and do it right, then how long a stretch, will we experience these emotions pouring out? Can anyone just pinpoint a period like 5 - 12 months or even longer, that you have to fight again those feelings?

I am also interested in knowing, how they will influence our daily lives, if we can work properly, even if we do manage to keep our shit together?
 

Edited March 27, 2016 by StonerLord

[Ayla]

@StonerLord

Do not think of any of that. It is different for each person. Even 3-4 minutes a day is enough for some.  Working won't be negatively affected.

[Natasha]

I've overcome some hardships in my life, but have never experienced a panic attack. I tend to always analyze/ think a given situation through and reassure myself of the positive outcome. Can't even imagine how frightening it must be to be taken over by that level of uncontrollable anxiety.