Tag: Psychological Condition

What You should Do if You Had a Panic Attack

What You should Do if You Had a Panic Attack

Experiencing a panic attack for the first time can be distressing not only because of the actual experience during the attack but also because you tend to develop fear of future attacks. Also known as anticipatory anxiety, fear of future attacks causes continuous fear and tension disabling you to relax. Often when the condition is not addressed, it will lead to phobic avoidance wherein you avoid places, situations, gatherings, and events where emergency help is not readily available or where having an attack can be embarrassing.

Take into extreme, this condition may lead to agoraphobia where you begin to avoid much of the activities you usually do. To avoid this, consider the following advices:

1. Consult your medical doctor. Symptoms attributed to panic attacks such racing heart, chest pain, heavy breathing, profuse sweating, agitation, etc., are also common to other physiological and psychological conditions. Seeking for proper diagnosis from your doctor, therefore, will rule out any cause unrelated to anxiety. Tell him your symptoms, when did the attack happen, and how intense the attack was. Your doctor will ask about your past medical history and may run some tests (e.g. urine test, blood test, drug screens, etc.).

2. See a therapist who is properly trained to handle such psychological condition. No, you are not crazy (people who go to a therapist are not crazy). The reason why you have to see a therapist is to process your emotion and prevent future attacks. Do not wait too long to seek help. Left untreated, a panic attack can lead to more severe conditions. Your therapist may subject you to cognitive-behavioral therapy and exposure therapy to process your thoughts.

3. Find the cause of the attack. Some cases of panic attacks may show a “pattern” certain activity, thoughts, time or person you are with at the time of the attack. These give you important clues to eliminate later symptoms.

4. Learn some relaxation techniques you can practice at home or while out. Music, meditation, yoga, and breathing techniques are not only helpful in reducing the symptoms during the actual attack but also in strengthening your body’s relaxation response.

5. Do not add more fear. Absorbing all the fears and other negative thoughts that come with anxiety attack only adds to more fear which worsen the negative impact even further. Instead, recognize that you are afraid and make it work to your advantage.

6. Practice healthy lifestyle (regular exercise, balanced diet, and enough sleep). Studies prove that at little as 30 minutes of physical activity 3 to 5 times a week is a great stress buster, helpful in preventing future attacks. Balanced diet keeps the supply of nutrients and maintains the balance of chemical in the body. Sleeping at least 8 hours each day recharges the body, refreshes the mind, and calms the muscles.

7. Remove all unnecessary stress. Since, panic attacks are closely linked to stress, avoiding things, people, and situations that stress you out help reduce the chance of future attacks.

8. Educate yourself about panic attacks. There are many resources where you can learn more about the condition. Reading books, health magazines and internet articles about panic attack will definitely equip you with the right information on how to combat any negative effects it brings.

Exercises For Stress Management

The best course of action to take sometimes isn’t clear until you’ve listed and considered your alternatives. The following paragraphs should help clue you in to what the experts think is significant.

Stress is detrimental to one’s health. Therefore, proper stress management techniques could end up becoming a life – saver for you. As exceptionally as people commonly associate stress as a mental or psychological condition, exercising your physical body can actually perform beneficial to making your life as stress – free lunch as possible.

Below are recommended exercises to help you stay relaxed and for improved stress management.

Biofeedback

There are several benefits to adapting biofeedback as a technique for overcoming stress. Aside from attaining undoubted and mental relaxation, it will also correct your stress response capacity. In most cases, biofeedback is used to monitor and modify the body’s reaction to stress to determine the best ways to cope. The more you can learn about the physiological changes going on inside your body whenever dealing with stress, a person will be able to identify the processes and move it according to the desired result.

Meditation

There are several techniques that one can use during meditation and is believed to be one of the deepest forms of relaxation. This is one of few stress management exercises that can offer both physical and mental relaxation. Since there are literally thousands of meditation techniques available, you can try out some of them and glimpse which one suits you best.

The goal during meditation is to achieve the meditative tell, wherein a person enters a deep centering state of mind and focus internally. In the progression, you can quiet down your mind, body, and soul. You can also follow a structured meditation, which is something that you practice on a daily basis or unstructured meditation, which is experienced by being in a situation that offers maximum relaxation.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

This custom of relaxation is done by a order of muscle tightening and relaxation. The idea for this came about after physical relaxation naturally resulted to unglued relaxation, which is why it has been clear-cut by experts as a possible technique to use for stress management. This one will require some muscle activity but anyone can do this easily. You need to spend about 10 – 20 minutes each day doing progressive momentum interestedness to achieve best results.

Yoga

This technique is somewhat related to meditation and these two almost always come together. Yoga is believed to focus on the physical aspect of the exercise, while meditation delivers the mental component of it. This ancient Indian form of exercise offers several methods such as hot or bikram yoga, sahaja yoga, and power yoga, to name a few. The main goal for yogis in practicing this ancient art appearance is to restore balance and bring unanimity to your mind, body, and soul. There are several health and mental benefits for doing yoga, which is why it is an excellent exercise for stress management.

Autogenic Training

This technique was innovated during the early 20th century and is focused on creating awareness of body sensations through passive concentration. The idea behind this technique is to focus on various sensations on various regions of the body, like heaviness or warmth. This has been utsed by physicians for treating various conditions. One reason for its popularity as a treatment option against stress is that it requires no special skills but is very effective for stress management.
That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

What You should Do if You Had a Panic Attack

What You should Do if You Had a Panic Attack

Experiencing a panic attack for the first time can be distressing not only because of the actual experience during the attack but also because you tend to develop fear of future attacks. Also known as anticipatory anxiety, fear of future attacks causes continuous fear and tension disabling you to relax. Often when the condition is not addressed, it will lead to phobic avoidance wherein you avoid places, situations, gatherings, and events where emergency help is not readily available or where having an attack can be embarrassing.

Take into extreme, this condition may lead to agoraphobia where you begin to avoid much of the activities you usually do. To avoid this, consider the following advices:

1. Consult your medical doctor. Symptoms attributed to panic attacks such racing heart, chest pain, heavy breathing, profuse sweating, agitation, etc., are also common to other physiological and psychological conditions. Seeking for proper diagnosis from your doctor, therefore, will rule out any cause unrelated to anxiety. Tell him your symptoms, when did the attack happen, and how intense the attack was. Your doctor will ask about your past medical history and may run some tests (e.g. urine test, blood test, drug screens, etc.).

2. See a therapist who is properly trained to handle such psychological condition. No, you are not crazy (people who go to a therapist are not crazy). The reason why you have to see a therapist is to process your emotion and prevent future attacks. Do not wait too long to seek help. Left untreated, a panic attack can lead to more severe conditions. Your therapist may subject you to cognitive-behavioral therapy and exposure therapy to process your thoughts.

3. Find the cause of the attack. Some cases of panic attacks may show a “pattern” certain activity, thoughts, time or person you are with at the time of the attack. These give you important clues to eliminate later symptoms.

4. Learn some relaxation techniques you can practice at home or while out. Music, meditation, yoga, and breathing techniques are not only helpful in reducing the symptoms during the actual attack but also in strengthening your body’s relaxation response.

5. Do not add more fear. Absorbing all the fears and other negative thoughts that come with anxiety attack only adds to more fear which worsen the negative impact even further. Instead, recognize that you are afraid and make it work to your advantage.

6. Practice healthy lifestyle (regular exercise, balanced diet, and enough sleep). Studies prove that at little as 30 minutes of physical activity 3 to 5 times a week is a great stress buster, helpful in preventing future attacks. Balanced diet keeps the supply of nutrients and maintains the balance of chemical in the body. Sleeping at least 8 hours each day recharges the body, refreshes the mind, and calms the muscles.

7. Remove all unnecessary stress. Since, panic attacks are closely linked to stress, avoiding things, people, and situations that stress you out help reduce the chance of future attacks.

8. Educate yourself about panic attacks. There are many resources where you can learn more about the condition. Reading books, health magazines and internet articles about panic attack will definitely equip you with the right information on how to combat any negative effects it brings.